The Blood in our Veins
by EchoKazul
Summary: Hamato Yoshi decided to buy a pet turtle as a present for his three young sons. But then there was a terrible accident. Years later, a lost and lonely ninja mutant turtle was found by three familiar brothers, and now, together, they're learning just what family means.
1. Hidden Away Part One

**This is a continuation of my story, 'The Blood in my Veins', an AU where Leo is a turtle and his brothers are human. It's mostly going to be short glimpses into the Hamato family lives, maybe a few excerpts from the original story, only from one of the brother's point of view, and possibly a few alternate versions, like if the brothers had found Leo instead of the bounty hunters, etc. Basically, whatever tickles my muse.**

* * *

_A/N So I promised to write some cute fluff after the flashback chapter with Leatherhead in the original story, and thus I'm getting that out of the way right out of the gate. This here is basically my attempt to atone for that depressing chapter and write the cutest, most freaking adorable things about child Leo that I possibly can. I wasn't originally going to make this starting chapter a two parter, but it was getting ridiculously long, and thus, I decided to break it up to help me keep my place while writing it. After that decision was made, I went, 'Meh, might as well post part one, at any rate'._

_ So yeah... warning for the next chapter, it's going be pretty much nothing but fluffy nonsense._

* * *

**Hidden Away: Part One**

**Ages-  
****Leo: Equivalent of 20-21 years old. ****  
Donnie: 20 years old.  
Raph: 18 years old  
Mikey: 16 years old**

* * *

"Hang on just a second, Leo. I almost have it..."

Donatello's tongue was stuck out slightly in concentration as my dark haired human brother carefully and adeptly manipulated a massive assembly of wires in the newly installed panel. The twenty year old genius had forgone his usual purple kimono or battle gear, and was instead dressed rather casually in a (predictably) dark purple t shirt and comfortable jeans. He was wearing thick work gloves and had his goggles pulled down over his eyes as several tools lay in a tray beside him, organized neatly in a row.

I stood beside him, his ever faithful mutant turtle brother, holding up the flashlight so the light was beaming through the darkness and lighting up the panel for him. "I still can't believe you managed to rewire the entire lair so quickly." I commented, quite impressed.

Way back when Master Splinter and I had lived here alone, it had taken me months of work and sweat and frustration to cobble together a patchwork system that was barely sufficient to run a hotplate and a toaster at the same time. Donnie, on the other hand, had come down only and spent about a few days working on this, and already had taken the rachitic system held together by only prayers, duct tape, and paper clips, and transformed it into a neatly woven arraignment of cables capable of powering an entire apartment complex.

"Oh, just you wait, Leo. It's going to make such a difference!" Donnie looked away from his work long enough to give me a warm, gap toothed grin, before going back to setting up the breaker box. "Though I still can't believe that you had managed to get as much done as you did with your setup. It was actually pretty clever."

"You flatter me unnecessarily." I said dryly. "There is no need to spare my feelings, Donnie, I've accidentally shocked myself on the old system enough times to know how bad it was."

I glanced around in the darkened lair, a few LED lights placed around and providing temporary light for my human family as they worked around us.

I still found myself in awe that life could be somehow end up so perfect. I was no longer alone. I was a part of a family, and an accepted member of the powerful Hamato Clan. I could scarcely believe it even now.

My new family of humans were as eager to learn everything about me as I was about them, so about two months ago, after I had recovered from Agent Bishop and the EPF's 'hospitality, and Master Yoshi was feeling strong enough to travel, I had finally brought my family down to see the lair where Master Splinter and I had lived for so long. Though, to tell the truth, as eager as they all were to visit my old home, I had been extremely nervous about taking them there. As the heirs to an internationally powerful clan, my brothers had grown up with almost unlimited resources, whereas my old sewer lair had been cobbled together with whatever I could scrap out of dumpsters and junkyards. Not to mention that it had, by that point, been abandoned for almost a year. I was going to be showing them a literal hole in the wall, and, as I constantly warned them as we approached, it was going to be a makeshift hovel compared to what they were used to.

But I didn't need to worry. The lair had belonged to Master Splinter and I, and that was enough. My humans had acted like I was showing them a grand palace, and not some dark and dank cobweb infested hole in the sewers.

At first, there had been a little hesitation on their part about touching or rearranging anything, as if this were sacred ground and all memories had to be preserved, no matter how moldy. But when I gave them my blessings to do whatever they wanted, and reassured them that Master Splinter would have loved to have us make this a true home, and to do that, they all needed to feel free to put pieces of themselves into it, they all dove in whole heartedly. Since then, it had become almost a sanctuary for us, a getaway for just the Hamato family members to hang out together.

Currently, we were still mostly in the clean-up stage, though a few 'essential' pieces of furniture had already been carried in. Namely, things a few small kitchen appliances (including a pizza oven!), a couch (carrying that in had been rather interesting), and a TV with all the equipment necessary for a proper movie night.

Hence, the reasons why the electrical system upgrade was a top priority.

Currently, Raph was off in the dojo, sweeping the floor, while Mikey was crawling around, clearing up cobwebs and dusting. Master Yoshi was sitting in his wheelchair at the counter, a collection of knick knacks and various household decorations lined up and waiting on the ledge for him as he meticulously scrubbed and cleaned each one with a rag.

I moved the flashlight a little to better illuminate the panel Donnie was working on. Things were peaceful for a time as we all concentrated on whatever we were working on.

Then the peace was interrupted by a loud crash down the hallway, along with several loud and course expletives yelped out. This was, predictably, followed by a wail for protection and snarled death threats.

I straightened up and looked around, noting that my youngest brother had abandoned the corner where he had been dusting out cobwebs, and was now suspiciously absent.

"Really, my sons?" Master Yoshi set down the trinket he was cleaning and facepalmed. "Here and now?"

"Don't worry, Sensei." I sighed and stood back. "I'll get this."

"Thank you, Leonardo." He looked at me gratefully.

Donnie nodded, then finished tucking some wires away. "I'm almost done here, Leo, and should be able handle the rest. Go ahead and make sure Mikey doesn't get murdered."

"Thanks Donnie." I gave him a smile, and turned to stride across the room towards the hallway that lead to the rest of the lair, where the source of the cursing could be heard.

I walked back to find Mikey almost sobbing with laughter as he clung to the pipes up by the stone brick ceiling, while down below, Raph wielded an old, dusty broom like a bat, his body language a mixture of both rage and revolted terror.

"Mikey, what did you do?" I narrowed my blue eyes up at my blonde brother with the orange bandana holding back fluffy blonde hair.

"Leo! Bro!" Mikey looked down at me with wounded baby blue eyes. "Why do you automatically assume that it's my fault?!"

I gave him a look.

"Okay." Mikey admitted. "But in my defense, it was really funny!"

I merely sighed and held out my three fingered hand palm up to him, waiting.

Defeated but still obviously highly amused, Mikey reached over and deposited a fresh but obviously quite dead cockroach in my waiting hand.

I blinked, lowered my hand, looked at it, then raised an eyeridge. "Really?"

"I was just trying to give Raphie a new friend!" Mikey swung up to seat himself more comfortably on the pipes, his legs dangling down.

"My FIST will be your new friend!" Raph raged.

At that moment, there was a small 'clunk' out in the living room as Donnie flipped the lever, and the lights flickered on, fully illuminating the lair fully once more.

"Success!" Donnie's voice called out triumphantly. "Good news, guys! There's no longer any danger of anybody dying of electric shock from turning the lights on!"

"Good job, Donnie!" I called back. Then I glanced at my two brothers in front of me, and then down at the dead cockroach in my palm. Then back up at Raph, who was clutching the broom and eyeing the dead cockroach like it was the spawn of demons themselves.

And something inexplicable happened to me.

For just a moment, I felt a fierce, internal battle rage within me, the likes of which I had never experienced before. I hadn't even _known_ I was capable of such thoughts and impulses that flittered through my mind.

And, I'm ashamed to admit, in the end, the dark side won over.

Shrugging my shoulders nonchalantly, I tossed the dead cockroach in my mouth like a piece of popcorn and casually began chewing.

Raph dropped the broom to the floor with a clatter as both of his hands flew over his mouth, his green eyes wide and staring at me with a horrified, nauseous expression.

"Whoa, dude!" Mikey straightened up so fast that he bumped his head on the ceiling. He winced and rubbed his head, blinking at me, obviously not sure if he should be disgusted or impressed. "Did you really just...?"

I shrugged, shifting my tongue in his mouth as I tried to dislodge a leg caught between my teeth. "I am a turtle, you know."

"Leo, don't eat things Mikey found on the floor. It's not sanitary." Donnie came up, pushing Master Yoshi's wheelchair, and he shot me a dirty look. "If you're hungry, we brought snacks."

"Sorry." I sheepishly apologized.

"Hey, wait a moment... What's that?" Mikey perked up, his attention caught by something off to the side.

"What's what?" I blinked up at him.

"There's a box up here!" Mikey scooted forward on the pipes closer towards the wall, where pipes intersected and created a shadowy recess up near the ceiling.

"Really?" I blinked, then realizing what it must be, I rubbed the back of my head with a shrug. "Oh. Uh... in all honesty, that doesn't surprise me too much. Master Splinter always had this weird habit of hiding things in strange places. I once found twelve rolls of tinfoil behind the bathroom sink."

Master Yoshi gave an amused laugh, glancing at me with warm, slate blue eyes. "Oh, he was still doing that, even after all those years?! I can't tell you how many times Shen or I found buttons, paper clips, and other shiny trinkets hidden in our socks or under cabinets."

"So what's in the box?" Donnie glanced up at Mikey curiously.

"Dunno, lessee." Mikey grunted, and there was a scraping noise as he pushed the box before him. He peeked down and saw Raph standing below him. "Yo, Raphie, heads up!"

"Got it." my red brother grunted in affirmation, and held up his hands to carefully catch the old faded and stained cardboard box before it fell too far. He had to lunge back a bit, quickly shifting the box in his grasp as he had to quickly try and keep it in one piece. "Crap. It's kinda falling apart."

There was a slight thump as Mikey landed on my shell, but I didn't protest, just leaning over to peek just as curious as my brothers as Raph set the box down on the floor in full view of everybody and, with a quick glance at me for silent permission, opened it.

"Oh." I blinked when I saw what was inside the half decayed cardboard box, not expecting there to actually be interesting items in it. I was ready for there to be nothing but old magazines and newspaper clippings. I reached down to pull out a blue blanket with a yellow duck printed in the center, feeling the familiar worn and threadbare fabric. "These are some of my old childhood possessions." I blinked, and looked back down into the box incredulously. "We didn't move to this lair until much later. How on earth did he manage to keep them this long?!"

"Oh! Mikey gasped, and slid off my shell to quickly join his brothers in perusing this treasure trove. "Jackpot, then!"

Donnie reached in and pulled out few childish crayon drawings, mostly of a turtle and a rat, looking quite charmed as he examined them. "Did you draw these?"

I cleared my throat, a little embarrassed, and nodded. "I only had a few crayons, so I remember being frustrated I couldn't get the colors quite right."

"What's this?" Mikey pulled a large black camcorder, a bulky and ancient relic left over from the early nineties, at least.

Raph noticed and lifted up one of the few old VHS tapes out of the box, turning one over in his hand curiously. He blinked in surprise, and looked up. "'For the eyes of Hamato Yoshi and his sons only'?" he questioned, reading the handwritten label.

I reached over to take it from him, looking it over and noticing the faded masking tape labels numbering them. "I had forgotten all about these." I glanced over at Mikey. "Uh, well, you see... Years ago, I found that old camcorder in the trash. It was still in pretty good condition, and as far as I could figure, somebody must've thrown it out accidentally or something." I shrugged, and glanced down to glance over the vhs tapes, and suddenly felt my face heat up a little. "So...uh... I decided to make some tapes for you guys, if we ever found you. To introduce ourselves, I guess."

"Wait." I gave a start as Mikey shoved the camcorder into Donnie's startled arms and turned to grab my face, staring into my blue eyes intensely. "Waitwaitwaitwait. Leo. Dearest big brother... Are you seriously telling us that recorded on those tapes right there, there's footage of a little adorable baby chibi Leo?"

"Possibly?" I blinked at him through compressed cheeks. "If the VHS tapes held up over the years?"

Mikey inhaled deeply, then slowly exhaled, his eyes wandering over to the old tape, whispering reverently, "Oh, _heck_ yes!"

Raph looked incredibly interested as well, now holding the tape he held almost reverently. He looked up at me with hopeful hazel eyes. "We can watch them, right?"

I hesitated for a moment, my eyes darting over to glance at the tapes. There were only four tapes, with the numbers one through four labeling them. Master Splinter must have decided to not keep the fifth and final tape, which was understandable.

Well, as long as it was just the first four tapes...

I nodded. "Of course. They were made for you guys after all."

"Oh, excellent!" I was started by the level of excitement in Master Yoshi's voice, and glanced over to see him leaning forward in his chair, eyes shining. He noticed my look and sat back, giving me an amused grin. "Oh, I assure you, Leonardo, I'm delighted and eager to see adorable childhood footage of any of my sons."

Oh. I blushed a little.

Mikey's face was lit up in excitement, and he turned to Donnie. "Dee! This is the perfect opportunity to try out the entertainment center you set up!"

Donnie frowned, biting at his lip as he took one the of the VHS tapes unsurely, turning it over.

"Donnie?" Raph blinked at his uncertain look.

Donnie looked up, looking a little perplexed and embarrassed. "Er... I... um... don't actually have anything that can play these."

Everybody paused and blinked at him.

"Really?" Raph asked incredulously. "But... How can you not?! You even got crap that can read ancient alien holodisks!"

"Hey, I never needed to use a VHS player!" Donnie huffed defensively. "Everything piece of media I've dealt with so far has been digital or downloadable!" He then looked back and ran his hand through his hair. "I... Where would we even buy a VCR?! Who even carries them anymore?!"

Raph paused, then handed the tape he was holding to Mikey and stood up, brushing off his pants. "I've got this, bros."

Donnie paused, then narrowed his eyes at Raph. "Is this going to be legal?"

"Of course!" Raph protested, wounded. "There's this guy I know..."

Donnie groaned, and face palmed. "Of course there is! Raph! You're one of the heirs to a multi-billion dollar global organization, and you keep coming up with 'Well, there's a guy I know' kind of people!"

"Hey, sometimes the best sources of information are the people found in dark alleyways!" Raph said matter of factly. "And besides, that's how I found Casey! You can't complain about results like that."

"Yes I can!" Donnie threw up his hands. "I complain about Casey all the time!"

"Guys!" Mikey had gathered up the videos with shiny eyes. "Less arguing! Chibi Leo awaits!"


	2. Hidden Away Part Two

**Hidden Away: Part 2**

**Ages-  
****Leo: Equivalent of 20-21 years old. ****  
Donnie: 20 years old.  
Raph: 18 years old  
Mikey: 16 years old**

* * *

One adventurous trip to an extremely shady pawn shop later, we were all together in the lair's living room, Donnie's tall slender form awkwardly twisted around the television as he hooked up wires in the back, putting in the last touches for the VCR we had just purchased.

"Here Leo!" Mikey was draped over the back of the couch, and patted the seat in front of him, next to Master Yoshi. "You're the man of the hour here, you need to be front and center for this!"

Raph was sitting on a cushion on the floor, already examining a large bowl of popcorn for the butteriest pieces. As I took my seat, I grabbed a handful.

I leaned back on the couch and sighed, eating the popcorn and resigned to fact that this whole evening was probably going to be somewhat humiliating and awkward.

Beside me, Master Yoshi gave me a fond smile and reached over to pat my shell.

I cleared my throat, trying not look too pleased at the touch. Okay... so my family was excited and happy. I guess I didn't mind too much.

Donnie plopped down on my other side, and examined the remote in his hand. "Alright, so everything should all be set up and ready to go now."

"I see you even managed to set the clock on it." Raph observed dryly.

"Well, I don't mean to brag, but I _am_ known for pulling off seemingly technologically impossible stunts all the time." Donnie boasted playfully, wrinkling his nose, then turned to glance at our orange brother. "Mikey, can you get the lights?"

"On it!" Mikey rolled off the back of the couch and darted across the room. In a second, the lair went dark, lit only by the glow of the TV screen.

"Everybody cross your fingers!" Donnie held up the remote. "Now's the moment of truth. Let's see if this tape survived all those years in less then idea storage conditions."

Mikey leapt back up onto the back of the couch behind me, throwing his arms over me as he crossed the fingers on both of his hands while he breathlessly chanted, "Please, please, please, PLEASE!"

Donnie clicked a button, and the VCR gave a 'chunk' and whirred to life. Raph held the temporarily forgotten popcorn bowl tightly, Donnie leaned over and grabbed my arm, squeezing it tightly as he stared hopefully at the screen, and even Master Yoshi leaned forward, eyes gleaming in anticipation.

The TV screen remained black for a heartpounding moment as everybody held their breaths.

Then there was click, and suddenly the screen flickered to life, and we were treated to the view of a very young mutant turtle's green snout, hovering inches over the lens and out of focus.

"Holy fuck, that's adorable!"

The onset of squees was momentarily interrupted, and we all paused to turn and stare at Raph.

He noticed, and coughed and leaned back against the couch again, quickly turning back to the bowl of popcorn and trying to resume his air of macho-ism. "Well, it is."

Master Yoshi didn't even scold him for swearing, merely chuckling as if he agreed wholeheartedly while turning back to watch the turtle child snout taking up the majority of the screen.

"OhmahGOSH!" Mikey squealed, squeezing me tightly in excitement. "Look, it's you, Leo! It's little chibi Leo!"

"Yes, yes it is." I chuckled fondly, gently moving Mikey's tightly wrapped arms slightly so I could continue breathing.

"Look how CUTE you were!" Donnie gushed.

I wasn't sure how they could make that judgement, as the view so far was pretty much just one of younger me's nostrils, with the occasional shift to look closely at his chin. The young turtle mutant was deep in concentration, obviously channeling all his focus on fiddling with the camcorder half his size that he held in his lap.

Mikey leaned on me. "Aw, look at you, Leo! Little chibi you is concentrating so hard, your little tongue is sticking out! Ha! Just like Donnie does!"

Donnie was leaning forward and looking utterly charmed. He noticed something, and quickly pointed it out, elbowing me. "Look at your little hand holding that big screwdriver! It's almost as long as your entire forearm!"

"If I remember correctly, this is when I first found the camcorder, and I was trying to get it to work." I explained.

Raph chuckled, leaning back and glancing at me with twinkling eyes. "You were completely oblivious to the fact that you had somehow accidentally turned the camcorder on, weren't you?"

"Didn't have a clue." I admitted dryly, then rubbed the back of my head sheepishly. "And, uh, just to warn you guys, this might not be the only time something like this happens. I had NO idea how to run a camcorder."

"Hee. This is going to be great!" Mikey happily beamed.

We continued to watch the screen as this scene dragged on for an embarrassingly long stretch of time, where the blue eyed turtle child continued to poke and prod at the camcorder, clueless to the fact that he was recording himself. There was one particular point where Little Me set aside the screwdriver and lifted the camcorder up to squint a brilliant blue eye curiously into the lens, wrinkling his little snout and provoking 'D'aaaws' and playful elbowing from my brothers. Sometimes his hand moved to cover the lens, leaving a three fingered black blob across the screen, with slivers of light between his fingers. Other times, he turned it about, giving a dizzying view of the interior of an old abandoned water tower. Other then the occasional clunk and scrape, and the muted noise of distant traffic, it was fairly quiet as the tiny turtle focused all his attention on his project.

Donnie glanced at me curiously. "How old do you think you were you then?"

I pondered the question for a moment as I leaned down and snagged another handful of popcorn, almost knocking Mikey off balance. "Oh, this was probably only a year or two after we were mutated."

"Hm." Donnie turned back to the screen, studying the little turtle who's brow was furrowed in concentration. "You look like you're about nine or ten there." He tapped his chin thoughtfully, then shrugged. "It's just like we theorized, you mutated to fit your physical age, not your chronological age."

"Shush, Donnie." Mikey swiped down at him absently without taking his eyes off the tv. "No science-ing. Just squee'ing."

"Oh? What do you have there, Leonardo?" A warm, accented voice spoke off camera, and all of us froze.

I had been caught with a piece of popcorn halfway up to my mouth, and I slowly lowered it, my heart skipping in my chest for a moment.

That... that voice...

Oh... the unexpected feelings that flooded through me at the sound of that voice!

Why didn't I think of this?! Of course he would appear on these videos!

Beside me, Master Yoshi had straightened up, and he swallowed hard and slowly glanced at me inquiringly, as if afraid to ask the question out loud.

Mikey had no such qualms. All three of my brothers had frozen in place, and Mikey then whispered hoarsely, "Leo... was that...?"

"Master Splinter!" the turtle child on the TV screen answered for me, and his face lit up as he looked up from the lens to glance at somebody just off to the side. He proudly beamed, and suddenly the view spun about dizzingly, changing to point down to the floor, showing chibi green scaled feet with three toes as the camcorder was lifted up to be proudly shown off. "Look what I found! It's a tape recorder! To make movies!" The screen became a confusing blur again as the camcorder was flipped around again, offering only a brief, tantalizing glimpse of a long rat tail peeking out from under the edge of a burgundy robe, before settling back down to focus on the bottom of a turtle snout once again as the turtle child peered down the lens again. "I _think_ I can get it to work again?"

"Hm." There was the sound of shuffling robes, and the little blue eyed turtle glanced up as a wrinkled, clawed hand rested gently on his small shell. "That is a splendid treasure you have found indeed, my little turtle, but our existence is best kept a secret. I'm not sure creating videos is a decision to be taken lightly."

"Oh, I know." the little turtle nodded, not at all discouraged as he turned back to the camcorder. "But I have a plan for this!" He reached over for something, and his tiny, three fingered hand came back grasping the screwdriver again. "You know how humans are always scared of us when they see us? Well... I thought that maybe, if we ever find the Hamatos again, we can sneak them videos to watch first, where we introduce ourselves!" The little turtle paused to beam up at his sensei, who remained unseen off to the side. "We can show them that we're not scary monsters! Then maybe they won't be scared of us when we meet them for the first time!"

I blinked, noticing that all three of my brothers had pressed into me just a little closer, and Master Yoshi had reached over to put a gentle hand on my shell. I couldn't help but give a slight smile, touched by their efforts to show me that they were in no way afraid of what I was.

"Hm. Well now, that is a very clever idea, my little turtle." the voice sounded thoughtful.

"I'm glad you think so, Master." the little turtle looked delighted, and began twisting the camera around again. "I just need to figure out how to turn this thing-"

And then abruptly, the screen went black, as the young Leonardo apparently turned it off as easily as he had accidentally turned it on.

"Well, the good news is that I somehow got it to work." I said dryly.

My brothers all gave an amused snort.

Any witty commentary my brothers might have come up with died in their throats as the screen flickered back on, showing the next bit recorded. At first, all we could see was slivers of light peeking through three fingers, but then the young turtle removed his hand, stepped back and examined the set up with a critical eye. Apparently satisfied by the camcorder's placement, he gave a gleeful grin, then ran off to the side, showing a cleaned off wall of the water tower, with a single chair sitting in the middle of the frame.

"Come on, Master! Come on!" the young voice could be heard urging excitedly.

And then there he was...

The young turtle child reappeared, leading an elderly, grey whiskered rat by the paw. Though still stooped a little with age, Master Splinter still looked younger and healthier then he had been in those final years, moving fluidly and easily, with the carved walking stick more of an aid then the crutch it became later. His fur was soft and thick, and he was wearing a red kimono with the Hamato symbol on the back, almost identical to the one Master Yoshi was currently wearing.

"That's Master Splinter?" Donnie whispered in amazement, unable to tear his eyes from the elderly mutant rat carefully taking a seat in the chair on the screen.

I nodded, biting down on a knuckle as hot tears threatened my eyes, too afraid to speak lest a sob escaped along with the words.

My sensei... my father...

"He's so cool!" Mikey sounded awed.

Watching him allow himself to be led by a younger me, a gentle, amused chuckle shaking his whiskers... it was so bittersweet.

I heard a ragged intake of breath beside me, and I looked up to see a tear running down Master Yoshi's face as he watched the tv screen with rapt attention. "Oh... my brother..." he whispered almost longingly.

Swallowing hard, I paused, then slowly, hesitantly leaned against him, watching his reaction carefully in case I was pushing boundaries too far.

He blinked and looked down at me in surprise, but then immediately and gratefully wrapped a thick sleeved arm around me, pulling me in tighter. Together, we turned back to continue watching.

The little turtle child with blue eyes helped the ever-patient elderly rat settle down in the chair comfortably. "Okay, are you ready?" he asked him, shifting around excitedly.

Master Splinter calmly set his walking stick across his lap, the very same one that Master Yoshi now carried, and nodded. "Yes. I believe so."

"Right!" The little turtle beamed, and turned to dash towards the camera. "Just let me turn this on, and we can begin our introduction!"

And then he reached the camera, we got a nice closeup view of his as-of-yet unscarred plastron as he stood on his tiptoes to press a button, and then the screen went black

There was a moment, then my brothers all looked a me, blinking.

I exhaled, then raised a hand to very slowly facepalm.

"Uh... Leo... you... uh..." Mikey glanced down at my face, sounding amused.

"I am aware." I muttered into my palm.

Raph looked at me, entertained. "So... how long did you end up talking to a turned-off camera?"

"Over an hour." I admitted with a sigh as I sat back up. "I had written a whole script that we followed with pictures and everything. And we didn't have a way to review the footage, so I didn't realize what had happened until years later."

"Oh man, this is going to be even better then I imagined!" Mikey delighted in this.

Our attention was drawn back to the TV screen as it flickered back on, once again showing a close up the underside of a turtle child's snout as the young me worked on turning the camcorder on. Blue eyes peered into the lens, blinked, and then, obviously satisfied, the turtle child grinned and there was a small shift in view as the camcorder was set down on the floor. Child Leo scooted back, and sat down cross legged in full view of the camera.

"Hi Hamatos! It's me again! Leonardo!" the green scaled child waved enthusiastically at the camera.

"Hi Leo!" Mikey cheerfully played along, waving back to the TV. I snorted, then couldn't help but snicker.

Little Leo grabbed his knees and leaned forward to peek at the camera, looking both hopeful and excited. "So, like I said, I'm making these tapes to show you guys a little bit about us, and I want to show you one of my favorite things!"

The small turtle reached off to the side, then dramatically produced forth a stained and battered paperback book with the picture of a rabbit samurai riding a horse on the cover, which he eagerly displayed in front of the camera like he was showing off something rare and amazing.

"This is my favorite book of all time! It's called Usagi Yojimbo!" He pulled the book back to start flipping through it. "It's a manga, about a rabbit samurai named Miyamoto Usagi, who travels around feudal Japan and does heroic deeds. It must be part of a series, but we've only found the one book so far, and it's missing the last few pages. But it's still pretty great!" The little turtle closed the book and hugged it tightly to his plastron, and then looked at the camera eagerly. "Do you guys like to read stories? Master Splinter said that Master Yoshi used to read to you guys all the time. Maybe... maybe sometime... if we end up meeting someday... you can show me some of your favorite books?"

He paused for a moment, then glanced back down at the book, before looking back at the camera almost shyly. "You know... Usagi is a great hero... even though he's not human..." The turtle child bit his lower lip and looked down at the book, then nodded decisively. "I want to be just like him."

At that, the turtle child was quiet for a long moment, as if deep in thought, then he quickly cleared his throat and glanced up, smiling hopefully at the camera once more as he hugged the book. "But I thought I'd share this. It's a really good book, and Usagi is really cool. Maybe... maybe you'd like him too? Anyways, I'll talk to you again soon! Bye!"

And then he leaned forward, reaching for the camcorder, and the screen went black again.

"Huh." I said with a wistful smile, leaning back into the couch. "I had completely forgotten about that book."

"It wasn't in the box." Mikey observed, glancing at me.

I shook my head. "It got ruined not too long after this when the hiding place we were staying in flooded." Then I noticed that Donnie had his cell phone out and was working on something.

Raph glanced up and also noted Don's activities. He gave a knowing snort as he grabbed another handful of popcorn. "You've already ordering the complete series, aren't you, Dee?"

Donnie nodded. "They should be delivered tomorrow."

"Awesome!" Mikey glanced at Master Yoshi. "You'll read them to us, right Dad?"

"Of course, my sons." Master Yoshi looked pleased at the thought, and smiled warmly at us."I... I would like that very much."

"Well, we'll have plenty of reading material for a while." Donnie observed. "There's well over two hundred books."

"Really?" I perked up a little at that. Over two hundred books following the adventure of the rabbit samurai I daydreamed about as a kid? Color me intrigued!

Then the screen flickered back on, and our attention was pulled back to the TV. And there was little kid me again, carefully setting the camcorder in place, then grinning at the lens, before turning to bound back to a respectable distance, standing in a cleared area in the wooden room of the abandoned water tower.

"Hi again! It's me, Leonardo!" the little turtle beamed at the screen.

"Hi Leo." This time all three of my brothers responded together. I rolled my eyes and in response playfully elbowed Donnie, the easiest target as he was sitting next to me.

"So Master Splinter's been teaching me how to be a ninja, just like you guys!" Little Leo rocked on his feet as he talked. "He learned from you, Master Yoshi, and he's a really good teacher!" He quickly glanced around him to make sure the floor was cleared, and back up at the camera eagerly. "So I thought today, I would show you some of the kata's I know!"

Blue eyes sparkling and obviously eager to please, the tiny turtle child gave a quick and respectful bow towards the camera, and then took a stance. Carefully, his tongue sticking out a little as he focused, he began stepping forward, his small, somewhat lanky form running through some basic beginner katas.

"D'aww, that's such intense concentration on your little face, Leo!" Mikey snickered. "Look at how your brow is furrowed!"

"Serious business is serious!" Donnie agreed, teasingly elbowing me.

"Still, you obviously showed promise, even at that young age." Master Yoshi commented thoughtfully. "You had a very good grasp for the basics, even with so little training."

"Oh. Uh... thanks." I said shyly, the praise warming my heart.

And then, as if on cue, little child Leo almost lost his balance. His nose wrinkled in annoyance as he righted himself and immediately stopped the kata, muttering to himself. "Oh, phooey, I messed it up." He turned and ran to the camcorder, and the screen went black as he turned it off, and then a moment later it flipped back on. And there was Little Leo again, smiling at the camera as if nothing had just happened. "Hi again!" He waved at the camera cheerfully, obviously restarting the segment over. "It's me, Leonardo!"

"Uh... Hi Leo?" My brothers sounded confused this time.

Obviously not hearing them, the little turtle continued with his pre-prepared speech again, stepping back to the cleared area again. "I'm going to show you guys some of the things Master Splinter's been teaching me. He's a really strong ninja, which he learned from Master Yoshi, and I thought today, I would show you some of the kata's I know!""

Little Leo gave yet another polite bow to the camera, as he had been taught, and then starting moving through the motions of the kata again.

And eventually made a minor mistake.

And quickly rushed to the camcorder to turn it off and on in an attempt restart the whole segment over once more.

And, to my family's growing amusement, this happened again.

And again.

And again.

Little Leo was obviously bound and determined to not show the Hamatos anything but absolute perfection.

I could only slowly facepalm again, an action I had the sneaking suspicion would be a common event this evening, as my father and brothers snickered and laughed, rubbing my head fondly and teasing me.

But, finally, Little Leo managed to get through the kata in a manner he deemed acceptable, though he was a little out of breath and sweat beads were starting to show on his scales by the end. He looked proud and triumphant as he turned back to the camera and bowed. "So there we go!"he panted happily, then rubbed the back of his head. "Though I bet you guys are way better then me. I... I hope one day we'll be able to train together." He straightened up and looked sharply off to the side, his eyes widening, and then he turned back to the camera. "Oh, I hear Master Splinter coming back! I gotta go now, but I'll talk again to you guys soon! Bye!"

* * *

And thus the night went on, and the short segments continued along this vein for a while. Little Leo would chat amiably about whatever topic caught his fancy, show off the latest prize that I had managed to scavenge, or demonstrate the latest kata Master Splinter had shown him. There were a _LOT_ of segments involving kata demonstrations, actually. So many, in fact, that I started to inwardly muse that maybe there really was something to my brothers' accusations of me being obsessed after all. But my humans didn't seem to mind the repetition, and seemed to be genuinely enamored by the antics of my younger self.

To my surprise, I found myself enjoying the videos almost as much as my humans did, as old memories and feelings resurfaced and kindled a feeling of fond nostalgia with each segment. I had been so enthusiastic and innocent back then, not yet jaded by the cruel world, and fully convinced that once we found the Hamato family, then the world would be amazing, that there were humans out there who would be willing to accept a mutant into their lives with open arms.

I glanced at my brothers and Master Yoshi sitting around me fondly, a smile creeping across my face.

And, oddly enough, it turned out I had been right after all. Go figure.

We made it through the first tape, and were just starting the second, when my attention was caught as the next segment started up, and a furry elderly rat's face peering curiously into the camera lens, not the young turtle who had been taking up the majority of the filming responsibilities so far.

I straightened up, tilting my head a little. I... didn't remember this?

As was the case with every appearance of Master Splinter so far, around me my family went still and quiet, each of us leaning forward, as if desperate not to miss a single moment.

"Hm," The elderly rat mused, tapping at the camcorder carefully with a claw. "I believe Leonardo said that the red light meant it was recording, but..." He wrinkled his furry nose and peered closer at the side of the camcorder. "I see a small light on, is that the light in question?"

"Master Splinter was color blind." I whispered to my humans in explanation.

"Ah." Donnie nodded absently. "That makes sense, it is a trait from his rat heritage."

"So... wait..." This obviously triggered a thought in Mikey, who tore his eyes from the screen to blink down at me. "Are turtles color blind too, Leo?"

"On the contrary," Donnie answered for me, still watching the elderly rat trying to figure out how the camera worked. "Turtles have four types of cone cells in their eyes, compared to the three us humans have. Leo can see a whole spectrum of colors that we can't."

"Wait, what?!" Startled, Mikey shot up, mind obviously blown by this revelation. "How did I not know this?! What do these colors even look like, Leo?!"

"Uh... it's... kinda hard to describe?" I shrugged. How did one describe colors? They were normal to me, and it felt weird that humans couldn't see the same ultraviolet colors that I could.

"We are going to have so many discussions about this!" Mikey gasped in a strange mixture of delight and outrage.

"Shush." Raph threw a piece of popcorn at us over his shoulder. "Watchin' Master Splinter, remember?"

As if on cue, the elderly rat decided that yes, indeed, that must be the red light glowing off to the side, and that the camcorder was running. He smiled serenely into the lens. "Greetings, my dear master. I know the Leonardo has been working hard on his project for you and your sons, and I sincerely hope that it finds you one day, and that you are all in good health." He bowed politely.

Master Yoshi gave a long, shaky exhale, then gave a respectful bow in return.

And then Master Splinter's face wrinkled up in an amused smile, and his milky brown eyes sparkled mischievously as he eyed the camera.

Uh-oh... My eyes widened at that look. Just what was my master up to?!

"There is something that I must show you." Master Splinter nodded at the camera, not reassuring me in the slightest that there wasn't going to be some embarrassing footage of me coming up, and turned the camera around, showing a glimpse of sewer walls, not the current lair, but one of our many early temporary shelters. "Now let's see if we can't do this without waking him up..."

We were treated to a Splinter's-Eye-View of the temporary lair we had been living in at the time as he carefully made his down a hall. "We have guests, you see, and I thought you might enjoy meeting them as well." Splinter's whispered as he he peeked carefully around a corner.

There, sleeping curled up on a blanket on the floor, was a little turtle child, covered in several little balls of downy brown and tan fluff.

A few sleeping ducklings were tucked protectively under Chibi Leo's arms, another cuddled up in the crook of his knee, and several were comfortably sprawled across his shell, sleeping in a pile of downy fluff, tiny feet, and beaks. One of the balls on his shell gave a shake of a tiny head and blearily looked towards the intruder, showing a small peach beak and bright black eyes. It gave a few sleepy peeps at Master Splinter, then, unable to keep awake, its head slowly bobbed a few times, before finally touching back down to the shell underneath, the duckling nodding back to sleep.

All in all, there were probably about a dozen baby ducklings scattered over the small sleeping turtle, with a mother duck dozing nearby, obviously quite content to take advantage of a babysitter to grab a much needed nap, her head tucked backwards against her back and giving her the look of a fluffy feathered brown loaf.

"Okay, time out!" I gave a startled grunt as Mikey lunged forward, basically clambering from the back of the couch onto my shoulders. "Donnie! Quick! Pause it!"

Startled, Donnie pressed pause on the remote, the screen froze, and we all glanced at Mikey inquiringly.

Mikey stared at the screen with narrowed eyes, and then looked at us. "Alright bros, here's the plan. After Donnie converts these to a digital format, we're going to screenshot that frame right there," he gestured towards the sleeping turtle child and ducklings on screen, "and print it out so we're all carrying a copy. And then the next time we fight a bad guy, we'll whip out that picture, show it to them, and then they'll either melt from the sheer cuteness of it, or instantly convert to the side of goodness forever, because that image there is like the perfect embodiment of everything pure and innocent in this world."

"Mikey!" I scoffed, blushing a little as I shoved him back onto the couch.

"It is pretty cute, Leo." Donnie snickered as he agreed with Mikey, then turned back to the TV and lifted the remote to push a button and resumed the show.

Master Splinter's voice chuckled fondly from behind the camera. "These little ones fell down a sewer grate earlier this morning, and were almost washed away. Leonardo would not rest until every single one had been rescued, and as you can see, everybody is quite exhausted from the excitement." He gave a fond chuckle and moved closer, his furry, aged hand reaching out fondly to stroke the smooth head of the sleeping green child, causing several of the little ducklings to wake up and sleepily peep at him curiously. "Ah, child, sometimes I worry for your brave heart. You're always so determined to protect the world around you with your small shell."

"Hm? Sensei?" the little turtle sleepily shifted, causing more ducklings to wake up with a chorus of slightly alarmed and complaining peeps.

"Ah! My son!" Master Splinter's voice sounded just a little bit surprised and panicked as the camera was hurriedly shoved around behind his back, giving us a great view of his tail. "Forgive me, I didn't mean to wake you!"

There was the sound of a sleepy yawn. "Were you talkin' to somebody?"

"No, no, just an old rat musing to himself." the floor moved slowly and steadily across the screen as Master Splinter edged sideways. "I just came in to check on you and our guests." There was a close up view of a wicker laundry basket, which Master Splinter smoothly sidled up to, then there was a quick, deft flick of the lid and a subtle toss, and the camera went tumbling into the dark container to land in a pile of dirty laundry, safely hidden away from little turtle children so they would never, ever know that their parental figure was filming embarrassingly cute childhood footage of them.

The thing was, he never actually turned the camera off before doing so.

So for the next 37 minutes, we got riveting footage of the dark inside of a laundry hamper. I suggested we fast forward through it, but occasionally you could hear a snippet of noises in the background, the muffled, unintelligible sounds of little Chibi Leo and Splinter going through their day and trying to take care of the visiting waterfowl family, and apparently my family's desire for anything to do with Master Splinter or I ran so deep, they didn't even want to miss that.

So in the meantime, I told them the story of how we later escorted the duck family safely to a nearby pond in the night (that was basically the whole story, it wasn't that interesting), of why we had a dirty clothes hamper when I obviously didn't wear clothes (Master Splinter's robes, towels, and blankets still needed cleaning), and then spent the rest of the time patiently trying to answer a ton of questions from Mikey about what ultraviolet looked like.

Finally the tape ran out, and after Donnie switched them, we started the next one, settling back once more to watch Little Leo try to share his life and dreams with his future family. There were tours of all the lairs we had taken refuge in, the usual demonstrations of katas, and other little slice of life segments.

At one point, the camera was once again turned on to show a happy little turtle child face, though this time he was whispering as leaned closer to the lens and greeted us. "Hi again, Hamato family!"

"Hi Leo." We whispered back obligingly. By this point, even I had joined in the chorus.

Little Leo on the screen had almost an conspiratorial grin on his face, and he held up a finger to his lips. "We have to be quiet, Master Splinter is still sleeping." He sat back and paused for dramatic effect. "So...today's Father's Day!" And with that, he turned the camera to show our makeshift kitchen, covered with a few scavenged baking supplies. "And I'm going to make Master Splinter breakfast in bed!"

My eyes widened. Oh crap, I remembered this.

"Uh... maybe we should skip this one..." I turned to Donnie, trying to hid my panic.

"I worked really hard, and got a toaster working, so I'm going to make him special breakfast toast, with eggs and cheese on it!" the chibi turtle on the screen said proudly.

I looked desperately around, trying to figure out where Donnie had put the remote. "It's boring, nothing interesting happens!"

"We have some blueberries too, so I'm going to try and make blueberry jam. Master Splinter loves jam!" the Little Chibi Leo beamed, holding up a bowl with blueberries in it.

"So, what, you were going to smash up blueberries and call it jam?" Donnie blinked, turning to me in confusion. "That's not how jam is made."

"I know, and we really don't need to watch this!" My panic was rising.

The little chibi turtle was pushing a tall chair up to the counter and climbed up on it as he chatted. "Oh! And I'm also going to make homemade orange juice for him! See? I have fresh oranges and a blender and everything!"

"SkipitSkipitSkipit!" I squeaked, giving up on finding the remote and lunging forward for the VCR instead.

"Don't do it, Donnie!" Mikey argued, watching the screen with excitement. "This is going to be great!"

I was foiled as Raph tossed the bowl of popcorn up to Mikey and quickly lunged forward and tackled me.

There was a brief scuffle, with popcorn flying and Mikey cheering, and, at last, I was grumpily pinned plastron down on the floor with Raph sitting triumphantly on my shell, watching the events unfold on the screen with as much anticipation as my other brothers.

They were not disappointed.

The camera got knocked to the floor rather early on, when Little Chibi Leo accidentally pushed over the chair while he was panicking over the blender spewing orange chunks everywhere. Thus the whole scenario unfolded with us seeing nothing but a sideways view of the ceiling, leaving much of what was happening up to the imagination. There were several loud crashes, the loud rattle of a blender completely out of control, and, finally, a quick glimpse of Master Splinter running past the fallen camera in a panic, as a thin plume of smoke began to waft through the air like a black ribbon.

After a few loud whooshing noises of an unseen fire being put out off screen (it had been the toaster), the blender was quickly silenced, and then there was the uncharacteristically panicked voice of Master Splinter trying to determine if little Chibi Leo was okay. A few seconds later, he came back on screen, now clasping a rather traumatized looking turtle child covered in eggs, blueberries, and bits of orange pulp to his chest. Little Chibi Leo was obviously somewhat in shock and clinging desperately to him, grasping his robe tightly in both his small hands with lower lip quivering, obviously still trying to figure out if he should be crying or not.

Master Splinter reached down and the screen went dark again, and my brothers broke down into raucous laughter. Even Master Yoshi was chortling.

Still pinned under Raph, I gave a ever-suffering groan and covered my face. "There's a reason I don't cook very often."

* * *

The night went on long into the early morning hours, yet nobody suggested stopping. This was a precious gift, a chance to glimpse into the childhood of their turtle brother and actually see and hear their rat family member they never really got to met. As the hours passed and one tape was finished and the next put in, it was obvious that time was slowly passing between the segments. The backgrounds changed as Master Splinter and young Little Leo moved from hiding place to hiding place, and if one looked closely, there were subtle signs of Little Leo growing up a little. Just a little taller, a little more lanky.

Little Leo chatted with them about his dreams about being a hero and ninja, and at one point excitedly showed them the wooden training boken that Master Splinter had given him. A good chuck of the third tape ended up being (to Raph's slight discomfort) a long segment where Little Leo found a rather pretty looking beetle and followed its journey through the sewer tunnels for nearly half an hour, before it disappeared into a small hole. Then Little Leo had the thought that one day they might all get to play games together, so, to everybody's delight, had Master Splinter help him demonstrate some of his favorite card games in hopes they would play together later. And he, of course, showed off his katas. Lots and lots of katas.

Eventually, though, the fourth tape clicked off, having run out of tape and sadly abruptly cutting short Little Leo's latest boken demonstrations.

As if waking up from a nap, no longer held mesmerized by the screen, everybody automatically yawned and stretched, weary after sitting for so long and so late into the morning, but definitely treasuring the night's events

Raph was still draped over Leo's shell, having made himself comfortable after their tussle. He glanced down, and his face softened a little. "Huh. We're down a brother."

Underneath him, loosely hugging a throw pillow, Leo had fallen asleep. He was even drooling a little, he was so deeply passed out.

It was a rare thing to catch Leo sleeping, and even rarer to see him so deeply relaxed as this. Even in the middle of the night, if one of them got up for any reason, Leo already had one blue eye cracked open, and if they needed him, he was already awake and there. Their turtle brother was always alert, always ready to react.

But then, almost by accident, they had discovered his Achilles's Heel.

To get a Leo to chill out, simply put a brother on his shell.

Apparently, doing so made him feel safe and protected enough to relax, turning into a happy, contented turtle puddle. Sometimes he even let go enough to allow himself become completely vulnerable, like right now.

Raph couldn't help the fond smile that curved his face as he reached over and moved one of Leo's blue mask tails that had somehow flipped over the top of his head so it wouldn't keep tickling his snout.

Leo trusted him completely to protect him. If that wasn't a damn humbling thought...

Donnie had mentioned that it might be a turtle thing. Normal turtles always seemed to be piled on top of one another, and Leo just might like the feeling of weight on his shell, especially one that was as naturally warm as they were, being warm blooded humans and everything. Plus, Leo obviously loved cuddling, though he would never, ever, in a hundred years, admit that fact to anybody. Raph honestly didn't know if that was a turtle thing as well, or if poor Leo at times just needed physical reassurances that he wasn't alone.

At any rate, it wasn't as if any of them minded.

"So, should we watch the next tape, or wait for Leo to wake up?" Donnie questioned, looking around. "It is pretty late."

"Wait, next tape?" Mikey perked up excitedly. He was now wearing the empty popcorn bowl like a helmet, much to Donnie's chagrin. "I thought we were done! There's more?!"

Their father looked intrigued as well. "I only noticed four tapes?"

Donnie pulled up the old camcorder that had been saved over all these years, and popped open the side panel, revealing a tape still inside it. "There's still this unfinished one to go." He pulled the black VHS tape out of the slot and peered carefully at the clear plastic window in the middle, showing the two reels of tape inside. "It doesn't look like they got very far on it. There's probably not much left to watch."

"Put it in!" Mikey said eagerly, happily snuggling back to watch. "Let's see!"

"Should we wake up Leo first?" Raph wondered, glancing down at their sleeping turtle brother. "He'll want to see it too."

"Bah, it'll just give us an excuse to watch it again with him later." Mikey pointed out happily. Oh yes, these videos were going to get so many rewatches!

"Leo's been working pretty hard lately, let's let him sleep." Donnie mused, then got up to switch the tapes. "And there's only a little bit left." He glanced back at their father, and at his nod of agreement, popped the fifth tape in, and moved back to take his seat on the couch again.

As expected, the tape opened up, as the others had, with Little Leo greeting them happily, apologizing once again for the last tape cutting off (all the tapes so far had ended abruptly due to tape running out), and reiterating his hopes that one day they would meet.

And then the tape settled into what had become a familiar routine. Little Leo would share his lessons with them, along with sprinkles of every day life as Little Leo tried so hard to share their world. At one point, he and Master Splinter tried to teach them how to play a card game called durak, which actually interested Raph quite a bit. He had heard of the game, it was quite popular in Russia, but had never played it himself. It seemed more aggressive then the normal card game, and involved attacks and defenses

He leaned down on Leo's shell a little and wondered where he and Master Splinter had learned some of these games. An amusing thought flittered by of an elderly rat and a young turtle peering intently through an opening in the curb by a park, watching old men play nearby and trying to absorb all the rules of play. He gave an amused chuckle, and waved the thought away. More then likely, they had just found an old book or something. He'd have to ask Leo later.

The tutorial ended, the screen when black, and the lit up again as the next segment started up. Raph settled back onto Leo's shell, watching and waiting contentedly for Little Leo to show them the next glimpse into their life.

But, instantly, all four of them realized something was wrong.

The camera showed a different hideout once more, but this one seemed different. It was little more then a ramshackle ruin, a building which once may have been a house, but now was little more then a foundation with broken, partial walls. There was no sense of the care and love that had gone into each of the hideouts that Little Leo had shown off before, temporary camps which, nonetheless, had attempts to give it a feeling of a home. This forgotten shell of a building was filled with old, faded trash and dusty debris, and looked cold and drafty. It was a hiding place of desperation.

And then Little Leo walked wearily in front of the camera and immediately they all went stock still, all joviality and humor gone. He was covered in scrapes and bruises, and his left arm was wrapped in blood stained cloth, the dressing loose and looking very amateurishly done.

Swallowing hard, Raph automatically glanced down at the contentedly sleeping brother beneath him, studying that arm. There were so many faded scars among those scales, but one in particular seemed long and deep. Was that...?

Little Leo plopped down onto the floor, hugging himself tightly and not quite looking at the camera for a long moment. Then he gave a long, shaky breath, and turned to the camera, a forced smile on his so very young face, though it was obvious from the moisture building up in his blue eyes that he desperately wanted to cry. "H-hey Hamatos. S-sorry about the mess." He paused for a moment, biting his lips hard, and when he spoke again, his voice was thick with held-back tears. "S-some humans found our last lair a few days ago, you s-see, and we... we h-haven't had t-time to find a... a really good new one yet."

He reached up and angrily wiped the tears that threatened to fall away, then tried to smile and sound cheerful as he turned back to the camera. "M-master Splinter was hurt, but don't worry, he's going to be okay!" Little Leo reached off to the side and pulled out a massively thick, ancient book with a faded yellow cover, the title 'Atlas of Practical Medicine and Human Anatomy' embossed in neat, rigid letters. "See, we found this book on medical care, and I've been using it to take care of him!" He lowered the book slightly, looking down at it and swallowing hard. "The... the words are kinda big... and I don't understand a l-lot of them, but... but there are a few pictures... and I think I got it." He exhaled shakily, and pushed the book to the side, before drawing his knees up to his plastron and looking at the camera again with a strained smile still on his face, though now he was sniffing, and gave a nod. "He's sl-sleeping now, and he's going to be okay."

There was a long moment as Little Leo wiped again tears again, and was obvious struggling to say something. Finally, the forced smile faded away, and Little Leo swallowed hard, looking off to the side. His voice grew quiet. "Master Splinter says that you guys aren't like other humans. That... that you won't care what... what we are." Little Leo pressed both of his palms against his eyes, obviously trying to keep those stubborn tears that wouldn't stop back. "But... but I can't stop thinking..." Tears began to stream down his cheeks, finally breaking free. "You're humans too... and we're... Wh... what if you..."

His shoulders heaved as a sob broke out unbidden, and then Little Leo curled up with his hands covering his head, as if trying to block out all the sounds of the world, great sobs shaking his body as he rocked. "I'm not a monster!" he pleaded desperately, as if trying to convince the world and himself of the fact. "P-please! I-I'm not a m-monster!" His words became so thick and wet that they were almost became unintelligible I-I a-am L-Leonardo! A-and I-I am n-not a m-monster!" He gave out a shuddering sob, and then whispered out, "Please?"

And the little turtle child sat there alone in the abandoned house and sobbed.

Finally, after a while, he sniffed, rubbed his tear stained face, and turned to the camera, reaching over to turn it off.

The four humans sat in silence, staring at the blank screen.

No more recordings came up. No more segments of Little Leo reaching out to the human world beyond.

That had been the final thing recorded.

* * *

_**Hours later**_

I sleepily drifted to consciousness some time later, feeling warm and safe, with the scent of home and family all around me. I drowsily noted that I seemed to be surrounded and pinned down by heavy but comfortable weights

Languidly allowing my eyes to blink open, I felt the top of my head pressed into something warm, and I shifted a little to glance up and see, to my sleepy surprise, that Master Yoshi was sleeping sitting up on the floor, propped up by a lot of pillows, pressed close to me with one hand resting lightly on my head. I glanced down to see that Raph was still there, only now Donnie had joined him as well, both draped over my shell and sleeping soundly. As for my third brother, at some point, somehow without waking me, Mikey had managed to wiggle himself under my arm, and was now snoring softly, the top of his head pressed under my chin

I smiled fondly at them all, amused by the sense of humor fate seemed to have. I had found the place in the world I belonged, and it was with the Hamatos after all.

I gave a sleepy yawn, and snuggled back down into the pile, letting myself drift back off to sleep.

Who would've thought it possible that, in a family of heroes like this, there was room for a monster.

* * *

_A/N- __You know what? This chapter was a little too fluffy, let's throw some add some angst in, just to flavor it up and make it a little bittersweet. Make the readers feel ALL the emotions, mwahahaha!_

_Oh, and each and every time I had Leo refer to himself as a monster in the original story? Yup, I had this scenario in mind, even back then. I was thinking about making this the epilogue, but I didn't want to end on a downer like that. Don't worry, Master Yoshi and his brothers are definitely going to do everything in their power try and to break him out of that mindset. And most of the drabbles I have in mind are going to be more feel-good fluff, Leo's worst days are behind him, now he's got himself some bros!_

_Oh, and that bit about turtles having more cone cells in their eyes? I learned that while researching for this story, and was somewhat surprised that little fact doesn't show up in more fics._


	3. Guest Works: KuraiArcoiris

**Note From EchoKazul:**

_So, as I was writing 'The Blood In My Veins', an amazing user named KuraiArcoiris left several reviews, where she wrote little short drabbles and AU's taking place in the universe as I was putting out chapters. Some of them were taken directly from the story, others explored what-if scenarios and alternate universes. All were amazing!_

_I gathered them up and put them somewhat in order. I have to say, I at least consider the very first one canon, which takes place during Mikey's movie marathon with Leo in the original story. It's too cute to be otherwise! _

_Anyways, I have KuraiArcoiris's permission to post her drabbles here, and if any reviews are left for her, I'll make sure to pass them on to her._

* * *

**Guest Works- ****KuraiArcoiris**

* * *

**Premise: Mickey notices something during the Space Heroes marathon.**

Reaching down to get more popcorn, Mikey quickly glanced at the human-sized turtle on the other coach. His hand froze over the over-buttered treat. Leo's face was absolutely wide open. Or at least that was the best way Mikey could describe it. Leo had never looked more human than in that moment.

Not that Mikey cared that his turtle brother was…well a turtle. But he was a little bummed that Leo couldn't talk to them. Mikey wondered what Leo would sound like if he had learned English fast enough. While the orange-loving brother didn't understand everything Donnie had said about speech or language development or whatever, the youngest Hamato brother understood that their turtle brother had grown up without learning to talk and so now he couldn't. And Mikey felt like the world had been robbed of something special.

All his brothers were special. Donnie was a genius, and no one could beat Raph in a fight when Mikey's big bro was really trying. And Leo was an adorable, human-sized turtle who was also incredibly good at hide-and-seek. Mikey lost count of how many times he'd stayed up trying to play "Where's Leo" with the security screen monitors. One of these days, he was determined to win that game.

But how cool would it be if his newest big brother (because given how Leo acted, he was much more big brother than a little brother—and Mikey didn't want to give up his baby bro spot anyway) could talk. If he could, what would he say?

Okay so obviously he would say that Space Heroes is the best show ever. Actually Mikey was pretty sure Leo would go on and on about it. Leo would also tell Mikey to sneak him out more gummy worms, and that no matter what happened Leo would have Mikey's back as much as Mikey would have his.

Right now, Mikey was almost sure that it was possible. If he flicked popcorn or called Leo's name loudly to get his attention, Leo would glare at him and tell him to be quiet so that he could find out if Captain Ryan really does save the new alien planet from the evil Mortu race.

Leo's blue eyes were wider and clearer than Mikey had ever seen. He looked relaxed and completely unguarded. Would that change if Mikey startled him? Would he morph back into the turtle who watched them suspiciously from the shadows? Would he suddenly melt into a shadow and disappear? Why did Mikey always feel like Leo was one wrong action away from vanishing out of their lives completely?

Donnie worried about Dunn's interest in Leo, but Mikey worried about Leo himself. He worried that the shadows would swallow Leo up and separate him from them forever. Raph said Mikey's imagination was running away with him, but Mikey was sure that they could lose Leo at any moment. And not because Dunn did something, but because they did. Or maybe because they didn't do something. Mikey wasn't any good at thinking, not like Donnie was, but he knew he didn't want to lose his brother.

With a quick flick of his wrist, popcorn sailed straight at Leo's face. Without even a glance in the kernels' directions, Leo caught them and than popped them in his mouth. Mikey blinked. Leo's blue eyes slid away from the TV and stared at Mikey. He could almost hear words attached to the look.

"Nice try, Mikey. Now will you let me watch my show?"

"Sorry, bro. I couldn't help myself. You looked so focused there."

Blue eyes widened a fraction and then blinked and closed. When they opened again, they were like glass. The open expression was gone, and Mikey's smile stretched hard against his face. Wrong move.

Leo's eyes slid almost absently back towards the TV. His whole face was lax and unexpressive, as vague as shadows. Shadows that made Leo feel so far away. But then Mikey noticed that Leo's posture hadn't changed. He was still hunched over and very comfortable looking. And he wasn't skittering away. Maybe it hadn't been the wrong choice after all.

With a less stretched smile, Mikey's gaze fell back onto the TV. He would keep trying, just like Raph and Donnie would. Leo couldn't hide in the shadows forever, right?

* * *

**Premise: After Leonardo reveals himself to his brothers and all is semi-peaceful in the Hamato household, Donatello learns his turtle brother isn't bad with electronics in a shocking way. (Ignore any terrible puns.)**

Donnie glared at the circuitry and wires spilling into a spaghetti-like pile.

"I am going to assume it was not supposed to do that."

"No, it was not," said Donnie. He glanced over at his turtle brother. "What are you doing down here?"

"Raph said someone needed to remind you dinner is not optional," Leo answered. Donnie rolled his eyes at Raph's obvious ploy. Of course he would send down the only brother that Donnie would feel guilty casting out of his lab. Leo stared completely perplexed at the mess on Donnie's table. He moved closer to the tangle of technology that used to be Donnie's attempt at a more advanced toaster. "How did it even do that?"

"To be honest, I have no idea. How a device created to toast bread perfectly almost literally unmade itself is beyond even my understanding."

Without hesitation, Leo reached out to poke the tangle.

"No, wait!" Donnie cried. Too late. Leo poked a wire and then snapped his hand back. Donnie immediately hurried to his older brother's side. He grabbed his brother's hand and flipped it over to see the green fingertips that sported new dark green, almost black spots. Staring at the fingers in general more closely, he noted more burn streaks and spots on them. As always the sight of the marks curled burning heat deep in Donnie's chest.

"Don't worry, Donnie. I've had worse."

"I noticed," replied Donnie caustically. He almost absently traced on of the bigger burn scars.

"They were mostly my fault," said Leo. The words caused Donnie's head to snap up and stare at Leo's face. An awkward half-smile decorated the turtle's very human expression. "It took me a while to recognize live wires and how to more safely deal with them."

"Live wires?" Donnie managed to say past the sudden tangle in his throat.

"Yeah. I had to work on some to get us, Sensei Splinter and me, some electricity. Sensei used to do it, but he was not very good at it. I was not much better, but I found some books and duct tape and managed some very simple rigging. It was not exactly stable all the time, but it worked. It ran the toaster and some other appliances I managed to find, but they would burn out quickly since the electricity fluctuated and had odd unpredictable surges."

"You wired your old home yourself? Without any real equipment? Using duct tape?"

"Hey, never underestimate the usefulness of duct tape," said Leo with a smirk. Donnie looked back down at his brother's hands and then compared them to his own. He had a few electrical burns himself from some more ambitious projects, and he suddenly realized how lucky he was to not have more. He released Leo's hand.

"Maybe, but I have better things to work with here," Donnie said with his own smirk. He flicked a switch. "There. The power is now shut off, so no more live wires. Want to see if we can get this put back together in way that will not end with it resembling Michelangelo's funky spaghetti?"

"You want me to help you?" asked Leo surprised. "Raph said it was not a good idea to come down here because well...you have been known to throw people out of your lab. Except maybe April, but then that is self-explanatory."

Maybe it had not been Raph's idea for Leo to come down here?

"I do not like when people interrupt my work by sticking their dirty, sticky hands all over my delicate electronics," replied Donnie. "I do not know if you have noticed, but neither of our brothers are very good at being careful."

"That is not entirely true," said Leo. Donnie stared at him. Leo gave an awkward shrug and smile. "But I see your point."

"Of course. But I am not opposed to some actual help," said Donnie. "As our brothers would know if they were actually helpful."

"Donnie, they do try," said Leo in a voice reminiscent of their Dad. How could he be the most like their father when he had spent the least time with him? Leo then smirked. "But I understand that they could be more trouble than their worth in the lab. However if you think I could help, then I would be happy to."

"As would I," said Donnie. He grabbed his brother's hand and dragged him over to the table with his blueprints. "So this is what I was thinking…"

"Wait, Donnie," said Leo, shifting the grip on his hand so he was holding Donnie's hand more than the other way around. "First dinner."

"What?" Donnie said confused. "Dinner?"

"Yes dinner, Donnie," repeated Leo with an eyeroll. "Let's eat first, and you can then show me how this is supposed to work."

Leo's smile reached his eyes and fascinated Donnie. They were still getting used to Leo's smile. Soft and warm, so like their father's and yet unlike anything else. For Donnie, it had already become a smile he could not do without. His gaze fell to their joined hands and mentally compared their burns. Don's borne out of curiosity, and Leo's from necessity. And yet his brother was willing to risk more to help Donnie. Not that Donnie would let anything of the sort to happen. Just like Leo would not let Donnie starve himself.

"All right," said Donnie, returning Leo's smile with his own. "Dinner first."

The two brothers exited the lab, leaving behind a pile of wires and random circuitry. Later two three-fingered hands would lace wires into circuitry while a pair of five-fingered hands would guide them through the tangle. No new burns would decorate either pair of hands.

* * *

** Premise: In which Irma asked Leonardo out in the worst way ever and now greatly regrets it. **

Leo had dropped into the general training room from the vent with a forceful thump. Given how silent he was pretty much all the time, Irma guessed that Donnie's new duct security system was giving him trouble. Maybe Irma could ask Donnie to show her the plans for it later. Anything that could cause Leo trouble had to be interesting.

Leo's knees began to bend, and Irma knew that a rare chance was slipping through her fingers. No one else was in the training room. Actually that was the reason Irma had been there in the first place. Donnie had banned her from testing out her Utrom weapons in any room with other people. Not that she would have after last time.

Putting down her Utrom blaster, she leapt out of her hiding spot (best to shoot at things from where they can't see you).

"Hey, Leo!" cried Irma as she bounced towards the surprised Leo. She inwardly squealed at how cute he looked with that expression. He straightened up awkwardly, obviously trying to hide what he had been doing.

"Hi, Irma," said Leo with a small wave. "What are you doing here?"

"Training, of course. Unless there's a better reason to be in the training room," she answered. She stopped right at the edge of Leo's personal bubble that she'd learned the hard way to respect (various times). "Like meeting up with my favorite Hamato brother. What you up to?"

"Me?" he neared squeaked, and Irma's smile grew wider. He was so cute! "I was…checking the newest upgrade in security."

"You mean you were trying to crawl through the vents to test Donnie's new security measures?" said Irma. Was that a bit of red coloring those handsome green cheeks? "How'd that go?"

"Pretty good actually," said Leo recovering his normal cool and collected attitude. Did he know some of the female ninjas blushed when he gave them that half-smile? Not Irma, of course. She was not blushing. Nope. Not her. "He really did a good job with this upgrade. It is practically impassable now."

"Practically?"

"I saw some distinct patterns that could be the key to getting through the system."

"You do know that you can simply tell Donnie about the patterns?"

"Why tell him when I can show him?" asked Leo with a full smirk. He was in a playful mood. Good. Irma knew it was now or never. She took a deep breath.

"Go out with me!"

A beat of silence passed between them.

"…What?"

"Go out with me," said Irma more clearly in case that was the problem. She ignored the rapid hammering in her chest. She gave him her best smile (which came out lopsided and less bright that normal). "Like on a date."

Blue eyes pierced through her. Blue eyes that she wanted to understand better. But right now she could only get that they were trying to hide shock and confusion. She took another breath.

"I've kinda been wanting to ask you for a while, but I mean it's hard to go up to someone you're head over heels for and ask them out on a date. But I still had to try. You're the most amazing guy I've ever met. There's literally no one else like you! When the mutagen shifted your DNA, it gave you all the best features of both turtle and human. Like, you know, in the looks department. Not that you do nothing to look that good. You train remorselessly, and it shows. But it helps that the Utroms knew what they were making when they made that mutagen compound. It gave you all sort of wonderful advantages–"

"Yeah. That's great and everything," Leo interrupted, and something was wrong. Irma could see it in the way that the brilliant blue eyes had become glass marbles. "You're a craz-nice, I mean nice girl. But I'm not interested in becoming a side project."

"Side project?" Irma repeated confused. Before she could make any sense of the comment, Leo had disappeared inhumanly fast into the vent. The vent then closed with a loud slam, and Leo did not reappear. Figures he would figure out how to get past Donnie's new security measures to get away from her.

What had she done wrong? She'd only been explaining why she wanted to go out with him. Maybe that had scared him off? Did he not like to be told how absolutely attractive he looked? She knew he was shy but *that* shy? And why had he mentioned being a side project? What had Irma said to make him think tha—

And then her words echoed in hideous clarity.

"—the Utroms knew what they were doing—"

Why had she said that? Everyone knew she was obsessed with the Utroms, but this is one conversation she should have left them out of. It wasn't Leo's Utrom origins that had given her the courage to ask the boy out. No. If Leo had been another normal human being, Irma would have still been forced to ask him out.

She would have taken more time to notice him if he wasn't an awesome ninja turtle, but she would have eventually noticed a sudden tendency to favor a particular shade of blue. She would have found herself more and more curious about how he seemed literally to warp space when he moved quickly enough. She would have nevertheless started to go over the top with her actions around him because his face looked best with expression rather than that serious look he thought he had to wear everywhere. She would have always envied and admired the bond he had with his brothers because she had no one who missed her back home. She would have still realized she had to ask him out when she spent a full hour contemplating how to get her computer blue screen to match his eyes because she wanted to know what went on behind them…

And now she would never know. All because she was a complete and total idiot. In tears, Irma ran out of the room trying to hold back any audible sobs until she was in the relative safety of her room.

An Utrom blaster lay forgotten on the training room floor.

* * *

**Premise: Leo gets asked out on a date in a spectacularly terrible way. And his brothers try to be supportive. Emphasis on "try."**

The sword cleaved the dummy in half, and Raph whistled appreciatively. Someone was in quite the mood today.

"So what happened? Did someone go crawling through your vents again?"

No answer came from Raph's turtle brother as he preformed another kata to hack another two dummies to literal pieces. Okay. So maybe it was something a little more serious than idiots climbing through the vents to peek on things they shouldn't.

"I did enhance the security on the vents," said Donnie entering into the training room. This room was much smaller than the dojo, but it was closer and in their own personal quarters. Donnie and Dad had had it set up when they realized that Leo liked to train a little too much for his own good. Like Donnie and his lab, it was too dangerous to leave Leo alone in the dojo too long. Especially after Dad started to show him some of the more advanced kata. Seriously. He was already leaps and bounds ahead of the rest of them. He didn't have to train so hard.

But these katas were not Leo's normal training-and-perfecting kata routines. No, this was an I-know-these-katas-and-I-want-to-use-them-to-beat-the-stuffing-out-of-something kind of workout. Raph could relate. He just didn't understand the cause.

"No," Raph said to his older brother, "I don't think this has to do with the vents."

"Really?" said Donnie with a lifted eyebrow. He leaned against the wall and watched as their oldest brother sliced through a few more dummies. Raph would bet his best pair of sai that Donnie was already coming up with new ways to make the dummies more of a challenge for their overly-skilled bro. "So what do you think it is?"

"I have no idea. He hasn't said a word since I walked in on this about half an hour ago."

"And where was he before here?" asked Donnie as calculations darkened his sharp red eyes. Raph shrugged.

"No idea."

"Guys! Guys!" yelled an over-eager Mikey from the entrance to their quarters. Great. Exactly what they need right now. Raph's baby brother sped into the room and barely stopped before entering Leo's training "zone." Leo wouldn't hurt any of them, but enter into his "zone" while he was there and you might as well be asking to be his sparring partner. Leo'd knocked all of them out of his zone various times by now. Never hard enough to even bruise anything and usually playfully. But the stupid, training-crazed turtle could be terrifying when he was in the "zone." Mikey turned around and grinned at his two not-training brothers. "There you are! Did you hear?"

"Hear what?" asked Donnie like he was actually interested. Mikey covered his mouth and giggled with barely restrained glee, and a chill suddenly struck down Raph's spine.

"You'll never believe this! It was so cool and terrible and hilarious!" cried Mikey. "Not to mention unbelievable!"

"You already said that, idiot," said Raph. He took a sai out of its holder and started to spin it. "If you don't get to the point soon, I'm gonna throw you in there with Leo."

Mikey turned around and finally seemed to notice the vicious dummy dissection happening behind him. Sky blue eyes opened into wide circles, and Mikey's usually open mouth decided to open wider than normal.

"Woah. I'd heard it was bad, but I didn't think it was this bad."

"Wait. Does that mean you know why Leo's creating extra work for me by taking apart all of the dummies I have ever made him?" asked Donnie. He pushed off the wall and leaned towards Mikey, now truly interested. "They were supposed to last for the entire year. You hear that, Leo?! The whole year!"

"Well I mean, I don't blame him," said Mikey glancing back at Donnie. "I heard Irma hasn't dragged herself out of her bed in hours. April couldn't even tempt her out with new plans for the Utrom tank."

"Irma? What's she got to do with anything?" asked Raph, trying to balance his sai on his fingers.

"She asked Le—" Mikey's words were suddenly muffled by a three-fingered hand on Mikey's ridiculously open mouth. Raph let his sai fall far enough to catch it and stick it in his belt's holder.

"Mikey, would you like to see some new grappling techniques I've been working on?" asked Leo. Wisely (which was very unlike Mikey) their baby bro shook his head quickly. "Understandable, but if you change your mind go ahead and let me know by saying anything. Anything at all. Got it?"

Mikey nodded, and Leo released him.

"IRMAASKEDLEOOUTLIKEONADATEOUT!" Mikey burst out in one breath before yelping as he instantly became a very uncomfortable twist of limbs under Leo's foot. "…ow…"

"Irma asked you out?" asked Donnie with complete astonishment. Raph absently noticed that it was a good look on his genius brother, and he would have appreciated it more if the same look wasn't plastered on his face too.

"I refuse to answer that," said Leo somehow twisting Mikey's limbs into a different but equally awkward screw. Mikey gave a tiny pained cry. Raph determined to honor his baby bro's sacrifice.

"And what? You scared of strong women?" asked Raph.

"What?! That is not it. I have no problem with strong women," said Leo. He looked away and mumbled, "If they're not completely crazy…"

"Look, Leo, I know she comes off strong, but she is a sound technician and a loyal friend. If you are not attracted to her, that is fine. But that is no reason to completely destroy and cause various weeks of work," said Donnie, crossing his arms.

"It..as..ow..ee…as..t," Mikey wheezed out.

"What was that?" asked Raph with a grin at the knot that was Mikey. The knot tried to repeat, but only wheezing came out. With an eyeroll, Leo kicked the knot out of his "zone" and to the wall where it rolled to a stop and popped back into a bleached blond with fewer brain cells than normal.

"I SAID," Mikey wheezed out between deep breaths. "It was how she asked. At least that's what Casey said."

"How she asked?" asked Donnie. Raph crossed his arms this time. He was starting to share Donnie's annoyance with this conversation.

"She said she was interested in me because I was the product of Utrom technology," answered Leo. He picked up his swords which he had dropped to grapple Mikey. With a quick slash, he hacked at one of the many already sliced dummies. "She said she thought it was the coolest thing ever…"

"Um…that doesn't sound so bad. So she liked you because you are a mutant turtle," said Mikey with a shrug. "There are worse reasons."

"Would you like it if someone said they liked you because you were Japanese and had blue eyes?" asked Leo as he kicked a dummy piece into the air and sliced it.

"Uuuuh…maybe?"

"The point is, Mikey, she said she only cares about what Leo is, not who he is," said Donnie. "If that is all she thinks of Leo, then maybe I should consider lowering her clearance. Or maybe just go straight to firing her."

"But bro, that doesn't sound like Irma," said Mikey. "I mean, I know she's obsessed with all things Utrom, but she doesn't seem like she'd date someone because he's sorta kinda related to Utrom stuff."

"People can surprise you, Mikey," said Raph. "And not only in good ways."

"I know that. But Irma's upset too."

"So? She's probably just upset Leo rejected her, and now she can't go out with the closest thing she'll get to an Utrom."

"I don't think it's that, bro. April—"

"April isn't always right. She obviously just feels sorry for her roommate and wants to side with Irma because they're both girls or something."

"Excuse me?" said Donnie in dark tone. "What did you say?"

"I said—"

"I wouldn't repeat that if I were you," said an all-too-familiar female voice.

"April! How'd you get in here?" asked Mikey. Raph noticed Donnie tense slightly.

"You left the door open, Mike," April answered, and Donnie relaxed. Yeah, that wasn't suspicious at all. April's piercing eyes stuck Raph's next words in his throat. "Just for the record, Raph, I did not 'take Irma's side because we're both girls.' In fact, I haven't taken anyone's side."

"April, I don't want to talk about it," said Leo as he reduced a dummy into its most basic parts. One had to admire Raph's oldest bro's ability to dismember things.

"Great, because all I want you to do is listen. Irma didn't mean what she said."

"She was not lying." And there is another pile of perfectly dismembered dummy parts. On the bright side, Donnie would have plenty of material to make his new dummy prototypes.

"No, she wasn't. But she hadn't finished when you cut her off. And now she's convinced you'll never give her a chance to finish."

"I don't see why he should," said Raph.

"Another word out of you, Raph, and I am telling Casey you cheat during card night."

How'd she know about that? Donnie shot him a smug look, and Raph glared at him.

"Come on, Leo. Give her one more chance to explain herself. I promise it's not what you think," said April.

"Yeah, listen to her, bro," said Mikey. "You might be missing an opportunity to find your one true love!"

"You do realize that whole concept of an one true love is flawed?" said Donnie.

"Is it?" asked April with a scary smile. Now Raph shot a smug smile at Donnie who was paler than usual.

"I mean the way it is portrayed in storybooks and the kind of things that Mikey reads and watches," Donnie quickly defended. "We know that true love is more complicated and, and…um…beautiful and amazing than those stories say. That's what I meant. Really."

"Nice recovery, idiot," whispered Raph loud enough to gain another dark look from his genius brother.

"Look. Even if I did, it would not work out," said Leo, his swords still and his back to them. "For obvious reasons."

"Nope. You don't get to just decide that, bro," said Mikey. He went over to Leo with barely a glance at the unofficial line that separated Leo's "zone" from the rest of the room. He put a hand on Leo's shell. "Give her another chance, Leo. If it is what you think, then we go with Donnie's plan."

Leo looked down at Mikey and then back at them

"Do whatever you want," said Raph, giving his backhanded approval. "Just don't count on me to chaperone."

"I will prepare for Plan B," said Donnie. "But if Irma is the same person we have learned to trust over the years, we will not need it."

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" said Leo quietly, almost too quietly. Good thing they had a lot of practice with listening to their absurdly quiet brother.

"Hey, I don't think you fully know what you're getting into," said Raph as he stepped towards his brother and slung an arm around him. "She's more than a bit on the crazy side."

"She kinda has to be to hang out with us," said Mikey as he threw his arms behind his head. "I think the least crazy thing she's done is ask Leo out."

"Leo does have a lot of good qualities that would make him an ideal boyfriend," said Don as he moved closer to their makeshift circle. "So at least she has good taste."

Leo rolled his eyes and grinned.

"Fine. One more try."

"Yay! I can't wait to come up with your couple name! Lerma? Ireo? Oh, I know. Leo X Irma!" cried Mikey. He put a hand to his chin. "Wait. That might be too old school."

"I'm glad that's all settled," said April heading out of the room. "I'll go tell Irma she's got one chance and not to blow it. Oh, and Donnie?"

"Yes, April," said Donnie with dull, enamored eyes.

"You'll tell me what Plan B was later, right?"

"Um…yeah, sure. I'll definitely do that," said Donnie entirely too quickly and slightly squeaky. April gave him a wave and all-too-innocent smile as she left.

"Great," said Mikey. "Now I don't know who to worry about more, Donnie or Leo."

"Donnie," said Leo with a small smile. "Definitely Donnie."

* * *

**Premise: Irma gets a second chance.**

Irma sat at the cafeteria table and tried not to drum her fingers on the wood surface. The Hamato brothers had cleared out the elite cafeteria so that Leo and Irma could hold their conversation in a neutral place (and so that Don could rework the cameras so the other three brothers could spy on the conversation). Irma's stomach lurched as it threatened to evacuate all its contents onto the fairly clean table.

One chance, April had said. One more chance to get this right. Not to go out with Leo. Forget that. One chance to make sure he does not think she only seems him as some sort of project, experiment. One chance to fix this before it festers and results in her leaving the place she had grown to think of as home. One chance to continue being his friend.

Irma wove her fingers together, then stretched out her arms, then dropped her head into them. Her glasses tangled into her hair. What was she going to say?

"Um…hi?"

Irma's head popped up, and her wide eyes took in the blurry form of Leonardo Hamato standing across the table in front of her. Of course she had not heard him. He was a ninja! And an awesome one at that. She should have kept her wits about her if she had wanted to know when he came in. Quickly she untangled her glasses and perched them on her nose.

"Hey," she answered softly. She blew her hair out of her face and grabbed her elbows with her hands. She glanced at his face before focusing on his plastron. It was interesting and grooved and could not as easily display disgust or dismay. No sense beating around the bush. "So April told you what I meant to say came out all wrong?"

"Yeah. She did," answered Leonardo Hamato (why oh why did her heart have to fall for such an unreachable person?). He sat in a seat on the other side of the table, and Irma caught sight of his rueful expression before focusing once again on his plastron. Nice, strong. Fairly flexible given what it was made out of—Great. Now she really was thinking of him like he was some sort of scientific curiosity. Maybe she didn't deserve this chance… "Was she right?"

Irma's gaze flickered to Leo's face in surprise. His beautiful blue eyes, usually bright and intense, had a dark, muddy film changing their color from fathomless dark blue to a lighter greyer shade. She did that. Quickly she covered her eyes in an effort to settle her stomach.

"Would saying 'sorry I'm a complete idiot who is way too obsessed with Utroms and totally undeserving of you ever talking to me again' make a difference?" she asked.

"Depends," his voice sounded expressionless and flat. "Do you really think of me that way?"

"Am I completely head over heels in love with you?" Irma answered focusing on a particular groove on his plastron. She then closed her eyes before lifting them. In one quick movement, she opened them and stared into Leo's stupidly handsome face, refusing to register the expression on it. "I'm not going to lie. Yeah, yeah I do."

She kept her head up and was rewarded by a outstretching of shock on her favorite Hamato's brother's face. Pink stained the green, and Irma's stomach suddenly ceased all movement. Maybe…?

"Oh," Leo said quietly. He rubbed the back of his neck and gave an unbalanced smile. "Um…I don't know how to say this but….I don't…" He took a deep breath and let it out. "I don't feel that way about you."

Doing its best impression of a pretzel, Irma's stomach reshaped with her. It wasn't like she didn't see it coming. Despite their game of see-if-you-can-touch-the-turtle, there wasn't much going on between them. She had been attracted to him from day one, but he still barely tolerated her touch the one time she managed to get hand on him. She had been a fool to think anything other than friendship was possible.

"That's fine," Irma replied in an almost steady voice. Because she was not lying. It was fine. She knew she had no chance going into this conversation. "But I wanted to make sure that was out there. Didn't want to regret not saying anything. Not that I don't regret how it all came out. For the record, I would think you are amazing whether or not you were a giant mutant turtle made from Utrom ooze or not. You are an amazing ninja, an awesome big brother, and you stole an Utrom tank for me. How was I not going to fall for you?"

"I stole that tank for our clan and to rescue my brothers," Leo pointed out. His blush returned. Irma's traitorous heart threatened arrhythmia, but Irma ignored it.

"You let me keep it," Irma retorted. "Same thing to me."

"The clan kept it," said Leo, his blush fading slightly in challenge. "You do not get to keep it if you decide to leave the clan."

"Do I have to leave the clan?" Irma half-joked back. Please say no.

"I do not see why you falling for one of the clan head's family should force you out of the clan. If it did, then I doubt April would still be here."

"No offense, but if anything it was the other way around there," said Irma. A sharp gleam in Leo's eyes had Irma lean forward a little and whisper conspiratorially. "All of those close to either of them could see that Donnie had a crush on April from day one. Seriously he was one part adorable, one part awkward, and several part hilarious to watch. You got to ask Mikey for details. He tells it the best."

"I think I will," said Leo with a mischievous grin. Irma attempted to grin back. This was fine. He would let her stay in the clan, and it even looked like he would let her be friendly with him. This was better than fine. It was more than she could have hoped for. Her stupid heart could sink all it liked. Her head knew better.

"Well better get back to work then. I'm kinda behind," she said standing from the table. She kept her eyes away from his. "I think Donnie will steal back that blaster if I don't get it to work soon. And there is no way I letting him take one of the rare examples of Utrom tentacle-held weaponry. But I'm really glad April and the others organized this talk. Now everything can go back to normal."

"Normal?" asked Leo. She glanced back at him halfway out of her seat. He stared at her with wide-open blue eyes. "But I thought you wanted me to go on a date with you."

"Yeah, but you just said you weren't interested," replied Irma trying not to snap the words at him. She mostly succeeded.

"I never said I was not interested," muttered Leo, blushing and tilting those potent eyes downwards. His own thick fingers drew a line on the table. "I only said I did not feel the same way. I was also going to say that I do not know much about dates or dating in general, so maybe we could try something else?"

"Like what?" Irma asked in a slight daze. Is he seriously implying what she thought he was implying? He peeked back up at her, and breathing ceased to be an option for a moment.

"To be honest we have not spent much time together outside of missions or in large groups with my brothers, so maybe we can hang out just the two of us," said Leo as his gaze slipped down again. In other news, Irma could breath again. "I would like to get to know you better before I made any serious commitments."

"You do know that most people do not consider going on a date as making a commitment, right?" Irma said. Why did her cheeks hurt? "Also do you know what a date is?"

"Hand-holding, cuddling, possible kissing," Leo recited evenly. His blush remained. "I'm not…" He cleared his throat to stop the squeak. "I'm not ready for any of that. As for the whole commitment thing, you do know who I am?"

Only the guy who spent about three weeks around your brothers before speaking to them because he wasn't sure about them, and of course he wasn't going to disappear on them after revealing himself. Apparently he had reverse commitment issues, if that was even a thing.

"Maybe I need to get to know you better too," Irma teased. Her whole body wanted to soar off the ground. She plunked back down into her seat. "All right, so what are we going to do to hang out? I assume we're not going to 'hang out' now since I really do need to get back to work." Also she would like to have some time to prepare for this "hanging out."

"No, not now. But I do not think asking me what we should do is a great idea," said Leo. His blue eyes met her briefly. "The only people I have hung out with are my brothers, and I am not sure you are up to what we do."

"Try me," she challenged. Irma was no tomboy, but she would not shy away from physical escapades either. Leo smirked.

"Are you sure?" he verified.

"Can an Utrom change DNA on a molecular level?" she said. At his blank look, she clarified. "They can. You're a prime example of it."

As the implications of her words sunk in, Irma nearly hit her head on the table at her own stupidity. However Leo's smirk deepened.

"How about a training run? Tomorrow morning. Just the two of us," he said slowly. He leaned back and crossed his arms, so sure he had proven his point. That she would say no. That she would suggest something else. He did say he wanted to get to know her better. No time like the present.

"Sound like a plan. What time?" Irma asked with her own smirk.

The bewildered expression on his face would likely be worth whatever pain this training run would inflict. She hoped.

A note: Leo went easy on her, but she still ended up collapsing and nearly retching halfway through it. However the experience woke up the teacher in Leo, and he is now determined to up her endurance. Irma's fairly okay with that, except when he tries to drag her away from analyzing (playing with) Utrom technology to do so.

* * *

**Premise: Leo and Irma hang out and do not date, and Leo slowly becomes not okay with that. Or alternatively, Leo's love life through the eyes of his bros. (Mikey edition).**

Mikey reached into the popcorn and bumped against Leo's hand. He wouldn't have noticed, except this was about the third time during their monthly Space Heroes marathon that Leo's hand had collided with Mikey's. It might happened once, but never twice let alone three times. Mikey's oldest brother was too careful for that.

"Um..are you okay?" asked Mikey. Leo's gaze had been fixed on the TV, but his blue eyes turned towards Mikey at his question.

"I'm fine," said Leo. "Why do you ask?"

"Because you aren't," said Mikey. He caught Leo's hand as it went into the popcorn. "You keep bumping into me with this, dude." He waved Leo's own hand at the stupefied turtle. "And that's not like you."

Leo looked at their hands staring at them with unmasked confusion. He slipped his out of Mikey's grip, and Mikey let it go. He sat up straighter as he waited for his brother to get past the whole I-don't-need-to-talk-about-my-feelings thing. Given Leo's eyes looking around back and forth at nothing, that struggle might take a while. Mikey paused the episode they were watching. Leo didn't have to be frustrated about missing the episode too.

Finally Leo breathed out loudly, loud enough that Mikey could almost hear the sound.

"…do my scales feel weird?"

"What? Why would you think that?" asked Mikey. He almost grabbed his brother's hand again, but he decided to throw himself onto his oldest's brother's shell instead. "Your scales feel awesome. They're like warm sequins!"

"Sequins? I don't sparkle, Mikey," said Leo, his tone already fond and much less small.

"But you could," said Mikey. He placed his head on one shoulder of his big brother's shell. How a hard shell could be one of the most comfortable places to rest, Mikey didn't know. But he would definitely take advantage of the comfort. "Just let me polish them until those scales of yours shine." The shell shook slightly as Leo chuckled and then shook his head. Bummer. "So what's got my big bro worried about how his warm sequins feel?"

"Please do not call them that around other people. Please," Leo repeated, his green tingeing pink. He looked back at the paused TV. "I was just wondering."

"You coulda just asked, bro," said Mikey, marveling at how his brother didn't slouch under his weight. Leo really could carry the world on his back. But that didn't mean he had to. "And you could just tell me what made you bump my hand three times while I was getting popcorn." Popcorn…that was importa—"Wait. Wasn't your 'hang out' with Irma this week a movie marathon?"

Leo slumped slightly under Mikey's weight, and Mikey slid off a bit. Scratching his cheek and still focused on the TV, Leo mumbled, "Yes, but that doesn't have anything to do with this…"

"You're a terrible liar," said Mikey getting off Leo's shell entirely to force Leo to look at him. When his oldest brother kept avoiding his eyes, Mikey grabbed Leo's cheeks and turned the stubborn ninja towards him. "What happened."

"Nothing," Leo answered quickly. He fidgeted and tried to release his face from Mikey's grip, but Mikey quickly turned on his puppy eyes. "Really. We were watching the new remakes of the Space Heroes films, you know the ones with Wiz Oak and Zack Quarterly. We started to argue about it because she thought Wiz Oak did a better Captain Ryan than Kevin Laird. It might have devolved into a popcorn fight, and then when we went to clean up, my hand might have brushed against hers and she might have yanked hers away extremely fast, like if my touch hurt her or was gross or something like that maybe and well, it just made me wonder…"

Leo's voice had gotten super quiet at the end, but all that practice listening to his older brother let Mikey catch all Leo said. He let his brother's face go and then stared at Leo. Leo fidgeted and brought his fingers up and tangled them into each other.

"So you wanted to check and see if your hands bothered other people?" asked Mikey. Leo did not nod, but Mikey knew by the red cheeks that the answer was yes. "Aw!" He threw his arms around his big brother. He then pushed his brother gently to arm length. "Dude, I doubt she pulled back her hand away from yours because she thought you were gross. Honestly this is the girl who said she was head over heels in love with you."

Deep blue eyes glared into his, and Mikey let his brother go to scratch the back of his head sheepishly. Right. Donnie and Raph had said not to mention that they had been eavesdropping on that conversation. It's not like Leo didn't know they were listening, but yeah, not a good idea to bring that up.

"Really," said Mikey quickly. "I bet she was blushing worse that you are now."

"I am not blushing," said Leo even as the redness returned to his cheeks.

"Did you even look at her to see how she reacted other than pulling away her hand?" asked Mikey. The red faded from Leo's cheeks as those deep blue eyes narrowed in thought. They blinked and widened again.

"No, I didn't," he said softly.

"I bet she was totally blushing," said Mikey. "I mean this is the girl who loves to play try-to-touch-the-ninja-turtle."

Leo shifted, and his straightening shoulders curved down again as if they were frowning along with his mouth. He sunk into the couch slightly. Mikey blinked in confusion at the shift. Why would—?

"She doesn't play that anymore," said Leo sulkily. Hm. Mikey thought back and suddenly realized he hadn't seen Irma lunge at Leo since before the whole asking-Leo-on-a-date fiasco.

"Did you ask her why?" asked Mikey.

"Why would I ask her?" said Leo fiddling with a loose thread on the couch. Mikey better tell Donnie before the whole couch fell apart. "I did not start the game in the first place."

"Seriously," said Mikey frustrated. Where was his awesome problem-solving big brother? "If you're going to sulk, you should at least ask her what's up before. I mean maybe she isn't playing it because she's still scared of pushing you away."

"She didn't mind before," Leo muttered.

"She hadn't nearly forfeited her friendship with you before either!" Mikey nearly yelled. Leo perked up at the words enough for Mikey's rarely roused temper to cool. "Come one, bro. You know Irma better than that. If she stopped playing, then she had a reason. Just talk to her bro."

"Okay, I will," said Leo.

Reaching for the remote, Mikey pressed play and the episode of Space Heroes resumed. Giving his brother one last look to see Leo settling more comfortably to watch the show, Mikey stared at the screen as he made a very important decision. When Irma restarted her game of try-to-touch-the-ninja-turtle, Mikey would be on her team.

-break-

A wide green finger pushed the lever forward as other pressed the buttons in a very particular order. One last button push, and then the words "YOU WIN" flash across the screen. A grin underlined sparkling blue eyes, and brown eyes shone satisfied across the couch from the blue.

Taking a deep breath, Leo lifted up a hand. Irma's brown eyes widened, but then the girl put up her own hand and reached over to slap his with hers. He instantly pulled his hand away.

"Too slow," he said with a cheeky grin. "Also did you forget the 'Minimal Touching' clause? Because I don't remember repealing it."

Her brown eyes were wide enough for Leo to see his own reflection, and then they narrowed and glinted dangerously in a look Leo had seen before. The challenge had been reaccepted.

* * *

**Premise: Leonardo ends up unconscious and in recovery after an encounter with the EPF. His brothers have come to the conclusion that he has the survival instincts of a Lemming, and they are going to have to do something about that.**

"Is he going to be okay?"

Donnie sighed as he turned away from double (triple) checking his big brother's vitals and towards his baby brother.

"Yes," he said in a sigh. It soon turned into a growl. "Barely. Again."

"Fearless over there apparently has a death wish," said Raph. He was nearest the doorway. His green eyes burned in the direction of their idiotic turtle brother. He smashed a fist into an open palm. "And at this point, I'm wondering if maybe I should just help him out with that."

"Raph! Don't say things like that!" cried Mikey as quietly as Mikey could. Still loud, but somewhere in lower decibels of his range. But something Raph said turned wheels in Donnie's head.

"Actually Raph might have point," said Donnie.

"Not you too!" said Mikey. "Come on, Donnie!"

"No, listen to me, Mikey. We do need to help Leo," Donnie explained. "If we continue to do nothing, he is going to keep doing this. So we are going to stage an intervention."

"A what?" asked Mikey.

"You seriously want to corner a highly skilled ninja who has some kinda aversion to being the center of attention and force him to listen to people talk about him? You sure that's a good idea, braniac?" said Raph.

"I don't see you coming up with a better one," said Donnie.

"Wait. So is an intervention us getting a lot of people to tell Leo how much they love him and how sad they would be if he got himself killed?" said Mikey.

"That's not exactly—" Donnie started to explain.

"Close enough," Raph said cutting Donnie off.

"That's a great idea!" said Mikey as stars sparkled in his eyes. "I'll go tell everyone!"

With all the ninja speed he possessed, Donnie caught the collar of Mikey's sweater to keep him from running off.

"First," Donnie said, "we should wait until Leo wakes up before making any concrete plans. Second, we need to keep the group relatively small, but we can get statements from others to read at the intervention. Third, we should probably tell Dad first."

"Tell me what?" said a voice from behind Raph. All three boys jumped, and there their father sat in his wheelchair in the hallway behind Raph. How can their father still sneak up on them with that thing?

"Oh, Dad, you're gonna love this," said Mikey quickly recovering.

"I am listening," said their father. All three boys wore identical grins.

* * *

**Premise: Leo's brothers stage an intervention.**

It had been about a week since Leo woke up sporting new injuries courtesy of the EPF. His brothers had come out with barely a scratch, so any new scars would be worth it. Besides he had almost completely recovered.

Donnie kept insisting that he needed to take it slower, but Leo knew that he could not waste time getting back into shape. No one knew when the EPF would attack walking for too long did still tire him. And he could not do more than three or four katas without taking a fifteen to twenty minute break. But he was fine.

Right now though, he was following Hamato Yoshi to the meditation garden to do exactly what the title dictated. He had learned to enjoy meditating with Hamato Yoshi in the last few months. It was not the same as meditating with Splinter, but…but it was not bad. He turned his attention away from the yawning chasm left by his father's death and continued behind Hamato Yoshi's wheelchair.

As they entered the meditation garden, he instantly felt uneasy. He scanned the area for enemies or traps even as Hamato Yoshi rolled his wheelchair further into the garden area.

"Are you feeling all right, Leonardo?"

"I am fine, but…Do you not feel that, Yoshi-sensei?"

"Sometimes your sensitivity to your surroundings astounds me," said Hamato Yoshi with a knowing smile. "My brother trained you well."

"What is going on?" asked Leo suspiciously.

"An intervention!" came the cry of Leo's baby brother. The bleached blond leapt out from behind the door and instantly closed it. Leo became torn between bolting and finding the quickest way out of this enclosed (if still spacious) room and indulging Mikey's latest whim. He decided on a compromise and grabbed Mikey in a headlock.

"Going to tell me what is going on, or do you want me to remind you of what certain pressure points do when pressed?"

"I already told you, bro. An intervention," said Mikey smiling up at Leo from his position in the loose headlock. Leo blinked having expected some resistance. "You're going to love it!"

"An…intervention?" Leo repeated. He had heard the word, but he was not sure what it meant in this kind of situation. To intervene meant to get in the way of someone's plans or to force yourself into those plans. Was Mikey coming to meditate with Leo and Hamato Yoshi? To interrupt their daily session? Why would he have to close the door for that?

"Come this way, Leonardo, and all will become clear," said Hamato Yoshi. He rolled his wheelchair deeper into the garden. Releasing Mikey, Leonardo followed. Mikey bounced along behind them.

Soon enough they were in the middle of the meditation garden, near the pond that Leo had grown quite fond of. There next to the pond lay a blanket and on it sat what looked to be a picnic of all of Leo's favorite foods. Even some authentic taiyaki sat in a basket. And around the blanket sat all the rest of Leo's favorite people: his remaining brothers, Casey Jones, April, and Irma.

"Now that the guest of honor is here, I welcome to the intervention of Leonardo Hamato," said Donnie from his position on the edge of the blanket.

"Come on. This way, bro," said Mikey as he bounced, grabbed his brother's hand, and dragged Leo to the conveniently empty spot between Leo's other two brothers. After they sat down, Mikey raised his hand eagerly. "Can I start? Can I start? Oh please, let me go first!"

"Mikey, we agreed to go in a certain order. First the letters from the clan, then Casey, Irma, and April. And finally us and Dad. You have to wait," said Donnie.

"Aw man," Mikey sulked. He crossed his arms and grabbed his hands, and tucked his feet together. His whole body vibrated with reigned-in excitement. Leo's bad feeling grew.

"What is going on?" asked Leo, very, very uneasy.

"Torture you so that you understand never make us go through the last few days again," answered Raph.

"What happened to you in last few days that was so terrible?" asked Leo, genuinely confused. A sigh mixed with a growl escaped Raph's lips, and he looked away from Leo. Leo turned his gaze on Donnie who was rubbing the spot on the bridge of his nose and then at Mikey whose vibrating had stopped in order for him to glare at Leo. It was not a good glare, not the least bit threatening, but Leo's stomach tightened and pulled down at the sight.

"I think we should just start," said Donatello tiredly. "April, you have the letters?"

"Yeah, there here," she answered holding up a brown burlap sack. She stuck her hand and half her head into it, rifling what appeared to be variously sized envelopes. "Where is it? I thought I put it near the top…Ah, there it is." She pulled out a regular-sized mail envelope and placed the burlap sack back beside her. She flipped the already unsealed envelope open. Clearing her throat, she began to read with a determined look.

"To Leonardo Hamato: you are one of the most amazing people I have ever met. I will never forget being stuck behind that crumbling barricade thinking that it was my mother's birthday and that instead of the surprise I had planned for her she would receive news of her son's death. But then your voice came through the vents and changed everything. I was able to surprise my mother, though it was two days after her birthday. But in this case late is infinity better than never.

"Just so you know, I had never seen a plan so effectively change the course of battle before, though having followed you and your brothers into battle since, I have seen several more. I know I speak for most of us Hamato ninja when I say we have felt safer in the months since you came into our clan. We would not only greatly mourn your passing, but we would lose a sense of safety that has lingered over us since your arrival. Please do take yourself into account when you make your ingenious plans. Sincerely, Peter Eastman."

Shifting uncomfortably, Leo stared from the letter in April's hand to the bag at her feet.

"Are they—" his voice came out squeaky, so he cleared his throat and started again. He could feel the little heat he naturally produced head towards his cheeks. "Are they all like that?"

"Yep. And you are going to sit there and listen while we read every one of them," said April with a hard stare. Leo broke eye contact with the redhead to send a silent plea to his brothers. Only unyielding stares met his gaze (though Mikey's was more amused than firm).

"I do not think that is necessary," said Leo as firmly as he could.

"Unfortunately for you, you do not get to decide what is necessary today," said Donnie. "And I believe about 97% of the clan's ninja and 83% of the civilian personnel answered Mikey's request to supply a letter to you for this intervention."

"I told you we were gonna torture you," said Raph with a smirk.

"Just relax and enjoy it, bro," said Mikey throwing himself over Leo's lap. Leo could swear that Mikey could read his mind and knew he had been planning to make a break for it. "Feel the love wash over you!"

"I get to read the next one!" cried Irma as she dove towards the bag.

"Why do you get to read the next one?" Casey whined from his splayed position. He had already given up on the cross-legged position he had been in before.

"Because I said so first," said Irma, sticking her tongue out at Casey. She pulled out a large envelope. "Oooh, this one looks good."

Bracing himself, Leo sat back and listened as Irma read a rather long letter from a man with two children who had chosen to draw Leo pictures to show their gratitude for keeping their father safe. On and on went the letters. Each of the people present took a turn reading, and outside of one strange letter from the boy who had pretended to be Leo offering to do so again if Leo ever needed a break, they all said the similar things: gratitude for saving the person, hope that Leo would continue to help lead the Hamato clan, despair at the thought of losing such a valuable and effective leader.

Finally Mikey finished the final letter, "'So please do not get yourself killed in any way. It would be a terrible shame to miss out on the sight of your demonstrations during training. Love, Shirley. PS My number is 555-432-5565.' Alright, that's the last one."

He began to place it down on the pile of opened letters near Leo's feet. It barely made it onto the pile before Irma snatched it up.

"And that one goes in this pile," said Irma as she placed it in a sizeable pile next to her. Aside from exchanging amused glances, no one stopped her. All those letters had been from some female ninja or another who had decided to include their phone number, email address, and on at least three occasions their instagram account. The strange boy's letter had also ended up in that pile, along with a few others with oddly worded offers tacked on the end.

Having been drained by the influx of the normal letters, Leo had seen no problem with Irma dealing with those. He had no idea what he would write in answer to such weird requests. Also he now dreaded the next time it was his turn to run the clan ninja's through their exercises. He had not known that so many of them had taken such an…interest in his demonstrations.

"So what do you think, Leo. Do you get what an intervention is now?" asked Mikey nearly wiggling in excitement from his place strewn next to Leo. The head on Leo's thigh angled baby blue eyes into an optimum position to see every sparkling thought flying through Mikey's mind.

Leo looked down at the pile of letters splayed in front of him. Several crayon drawings peeked out behind written words, and dozens of pictures of people and their families dotted the white pile of gratitude and well-wishes. People and families that he was attributed with saving.

"I think I do," said Leo with a half-smile, both glad that the so-called intervention was over and grave at its implications. He picked up a photo closest to him. A man stood next to his little sister, and both grinned out of the picture and straight up at Leo.

Mikey shifted further into his lap while Donnie leaned heavier onto his left shoulder. Raph readjusted his position and had more of his back lean onto Leo's right side. A bit beyond Raph, Hamato Yoshi sat in his wheelchair smiling softly in their direction. Irma gave him a big grin from her position across from him, and April scooted closer to Donnie to take his free hand. An audible snort came up from Casey who did not bother to get up from his prone position half on the grass and half on the now fairly empty picnic blanket.

Reverently, Leo placed the picture of the brother and sister back into the pile of papers. He spread the letters out further so he could see more of the pictures and drawings of families. His heart grew heavy, but only because it was so full.

"So our intervention worked then?" asked Mikey brightly.

"Yeah. It worked," said Leo softly, eyes still on the countless words and the people behind them. "I thought I understood what it took to be a Hamato, to be part of this clan. But I see now that I only thought I got it."

"But you get it now, right?" said Donnie in a teasing tone.

"Yes," said Leo. His three fingers spread over the pages, trying to touch as many as he could. "These are our people. And we need to do whatever we can to protect them."

A shift in the atmosphere caused Leo to look up. Seven pairs of wide, unbelieving eyes stared at him. Leo blinked. Had he missed something?

* * *

**Premise: Leo learns exactly what an intervention is.**

"Alright, that's it. I'm done," said Raph as he stood up from where he had been leaning on his idiotic big brother. He had always thought that Mikey was the dumb brother. Donnie had plenty of dumb moments for a supposed genius, but none that matched Mikey's. But no, the brother Raph had least likely thought would be the idiot of the group (even when he was playing at being a normal turtle) apparently had decided to be the dumbest of them all. He walked away and muttered, "I knew this was a dumb idea."

"Come back, Raph," cried Mikey from where he still lay sprawled on Leo's lap. Baby blue eyes hovered between desperation and despair. Raph didn't move closer to the door, but he didn't return to his spot next to Leo. If he did, he might give into the urge to pound his oldest brother's head into the ground various times to see if that would get through into stupidly thick head of his.

"…I am guessing I misunderstood what an intervention is supposed to be?" asked Leo in a quiet voice. His eyes darkened into stormy seas from the bright starlit oceans they had been moments ago. Raph crossed his arms. He refused to wrap them around his stupid brother. His fists still itched to punch him.

"Yeah, you totally missed the point, bro," said Mikey so quiet and flat that Raph had not been sure it was Mikey talking. "You were supposed to see how many people care about you and don't want you to die."

"Die?" asked Leo. His stormy sea eyes filled with dark forming clouds. Or you know some strange metaphor like that. He looked around at everyone in the garden as if searching for something. When the cloudy confused eyes landed on Raph, he made sure to harden his own gaze into a glare. His brother did not return the glare as he finished his search by staring at their father. "Why would they be worried about that?"

Raph's blood boiled. "Why do you think, numbskull?!" he yelled, turning his idiotic brother's attention on him (along with everyone else's). "They literally spelled it out for you! Did you miss all the letters we read?!"

"I heard them, Raph," said Leo, his darkened eyes narrowing onto Raph. Raph could deal with that. "I understand why they prefer I stay alive. What I do not understand is why they would think I am in danger of dying."

"Maybe because you were unconscious for three days after the last battle with the Krang," said Donnie with enough sarcasm to make Raph proud. Donnie had pulled away from Leo to stare at him and was also full on glaring at their turtle brother now. "Maybe because after helping us fight back the Purple Dragons from our area, you fought off that new big blond leader and could not move for two days afterwards. Maybe because when that podiatric-based ninja organization from another dimension broke into our compound, you chose to act as decoy and ended up with a broken arm and leg that you decided to walk off after two weeks of recovery time. Maybe because after this encounter with the EPF, you were unconscious for five days during which I had to restart your heart twice."

"But—" Leo started before he was interrupted by Mikey.

"Why don't you get it, Leo? They don't want to lose you." Mikey snuggled into Leo's chest. He then whispered so quietly Raph almost missed what he said. "We don't want to lose you."

"I don't want to lose any of you either," said Leo, bending down to nuzzle the top of Mikey's head. Raph tightened the grips on his elbows. "But I don't know why you were so worried. I knew I would wake up."

"Hate to break it to you, Fearless," Raph bit out, "but amazing turtle healing powers of not, you're not invincible."

"I know I am not invincible," said Leo calmly. "That is not why I knew that I would wake up."

"Oh, so I guess you had some sort of spiritual vision when you were meditating that let you know exactly when you are going to die, so as long as you don't die that way, you'll be fine, is it?" demanded Raph, jaw tight and teeth clicking between words. "That's a load of bull, and you know it."

"Raphael, language," said their father, but Raph ignored him. It wasn't even a bad word. And if it was, it didn't matter in this situation. His gaze remained solely focused on Leo.

"No," Leo answered with his own bite to the word. "I knew I would be fine because you guys would not let me die."

…What? Wouldn't let him die? What in the world did he mean…? Of course they wouldn't let him die, but that didn't mean he could throw himself straight at death!

"No matter what anyone tries to do to me, you will get stop them and bring me back home. Even if Death itself tried," said Leo without any doubt tainting his tone. His blue eyes shone like sunlit seas. He pulled Mikey up and nuzzled him further. Mikey nuzzled Leo back the best he could from his position.

Placing Mikey next to him, Leo reached out with his free arm, grabbed Donnie, and dragged him into a tight side-hug. April let go of Donnie's hand so that he could better return Leo's hug. Leo nuzzled Donnie too and then said in that same assured tone, "I have the best brothers, the best family. So I can go all out against those who threaten us." He stretched out the arm no longer holding Donnie towards Raph. "I know I will not die."

Without thinking about it, Raph leaned towards Leo, towards that hand, wanting to grab it and hold on forever. But if he did, it would slip out of his fingers.

"No. Nope," Raph said stepping backwards, away from the trap of basking in his oldest brother's steadfast trust. "You are not going to use your big brother powers to get out of this!"

"Big brother powers?" asked Casey. He folded his legs under himself. He leaned forward and pressed his cheek against his hand. "Good try, Raph, but I think you mean his awesome powers of persuasion."

"Persuasion?" repeated Raph with a cocked eyebrow. "Using that Word-a-Day calendar Donnie got ya?"

"Just saying you ain't gotta be his bro for them to work is all," said Casey.

"Ooh! Ooh!" cried Irma as she raised her hand. "Can I hug the adorably cute turtle in Raph's place?"

"Sure," said Mikey with a wide I'm-about-to-prank-someone grin that usually set Raph on edge. He pulled out of Leo's hold enough to make room for another person. Leo's blue eyes widened into whirlpools.

"Yes," Irma squealed and moved to take the empty spot. Raph stepped forward and grabbed the collar of her sweater to stop her.

"This is not becoming a hug fest," said Raph. "This is an intervention to keep him," he pointed at Leo as he held Irma up off the ground, "from getting himself killed."

"Hey, let her go," said Leo. He stoop up too fast, and Mikey let out a yelp as he slumped to the ground. Donnie caught himself and stayed sitting where he had been glued to Leo's side. Leo looked back at Mikey and cringed. "Sorry."

"I'm okay," Mikey said as he sat back up and rubbed his side. He waved his brother in Raph's direction. "Go back to arguing with Raph."

Leo turned back to Raph with narrowed blue eyes. "Let her go, Raph."

"What? Secretly wanting that hug?" Raph taunted.

"I'm fine," said Irma cutting off Leo's response. She hung limply from her sweater's collar. "My sweater's going to stretch out, but I needed a new one anyway. Besides I agree with Raph."

"You do?" said Raph, barely catching his oldest brother echoing his question.

"Sure," said Irma as she shrugged as best she could with her sweater stretched around her ears. She focused on Leo. "You shouldn't be allowed to use your impressive persuasive powers to get out of what your brothers are trying to tell you."

"Then why'd you ask for a hug?" asked Raph.

"Because I am not going to pass over a chance to hug my favorite Hamato brother," said Irma with a grin. Raph returned it with one of his own.

"As I already explained," Leo interrupted abruptly. "I am not going to die."

"You don't know that," said April in her hard tone. She stood up and poked Leo's chest. Leo stumbled backwards a little. "And even if you are right and your brothers will not let you die, do you know what you put them through when you get hurt? Donnie doesn't sleep. And I mean he doesn't sleep until he's absolutely out of danger of dying. No sleep. At all. And Mikey barely smiles. Not to mention he barely comes out of your quarters when you're on bed rest."

"And Raph is especially intense in training," added Casey, straightening in his sitting position. "The whole clan dreads training under him while you're out. Doesn't help that he won't take any of Angel or mine invitations to go out and bash some heads while you're hurt."

"Seriously, the whole clan feels it when you're injured," said Irma from where she still dangled. "That's on top of worrying about if you'll get better. So consider it less about you knowing you won't die, and more about the rest of us not being as sure."

"Look, if it comes down to completing a mission effectively with me being injured and knowing I will survive or the mission going wrong and major casualties occurring, I will pick a few minor injuries every time," said Leo.

"Your injuries are never minor!" cried Donnie standing up next to his girlfriend. "Never. Do you even know what minor injuries are? Minor injuries are injuries that do not end in prescribed bed rest. Do you know how often I have not had to prescribe you bed rest? Once. Once!"

"Bro, do the injuries always have to be yours? Can't one of us get injured instead?" asked Mikey getting up and standing next to Leo.

"No. Never," said Leo barely letting Mikey finish his question.

The sound of a clearing throat cut through the resulting responses. All eyes turned to their father.

"I believe this intervention has gotten out of hand," said their father. "Let us all sit down."

"I'm way ahead of you, Hamato-sensei," said Casey, reclining back in his seated position.

"No one asked you," retorted Raph. He dropped Irma who hurried back to her position across from Leo. Leo himself sat back down in his original spot with Mikey fidgeting and sitting near him. Donnie sat further away from Leo and nearer April. Raph plopped down exactly where he had been standing.

"If you do not mind, I would like to take the lead in this intervention from this point forward," said their father. No one protested. Like anyone was going to stop Dad. "From what I have observed, we are at an impasse. You do not want to see your brother injured. And your brother does not want to see you injured."

"But it isn't fair," said Mikey. "Because since Leo's come to live with us, he's never had to see us really injured."

"Is it?" asked their father. He had that maddening twinkle in his eyes. "I believe your brother has worked hard to make sure of that. Should not his efforts be rewarded?"

"But it isn't like we haven't…tried…to…." Mikey's words trailed off at the same time his baby blue eyes lit up like the noon sky. Raph felt his lips curl into wide smile that mirrored the one on Donnie's lips. The three younger Hamato brothers exchanged determined glances. They then turned towards their oldest brother. His normal leaf green color had paled to a more sickly green as evening blue eyes glared at them.

"What are you thinking?"  
"Let's put it this way, Leo," said Raph. "Next time you come up with a plan, you had better make sure that the casualties you are working so hard to avoid include yourself or you'll see how hard we can work to keep from seeing our oldest brother hurt."

"In short," said Donnie with a wicked grin that usually proceeded a mad scientist moment. "If you keep flirting with Death, we will try start flirting with it too."

"And I happen to be excellent at flirting," said Mikey. "You can ask any of the girls in the compound."

Irma snorted, and April bit back a chuckle. Raph stood up and smacked the back of his little brother's head.

"Ow," yelped Mikey. He rubbed the back of his head. "It's true you know."

"They only indulge you because they think of you as an adorable mascot."

"No, they don't," mumbled Mikey.

Ignoring him, Raph turned back to his oldest brother. He was puke green. The blue eyes had glazed over into glass marble. Raph frowned. He knelt down in front of Leo and place a hand of Leo's shoulder.

"All we're saying is that we're going to have your back like you have ours," said Raph. He pressed his forehead to Leo's. "From now on when you run out into danger, you have to remember that we will be close behind. So you just have to take that into account in your plans, and I have a feeling there will be less injuries all around. Got it, bro?"

A breath puffed out of Leo's lips, and Leo's forehead bumped Raph's.

"Got it."

* * *

**Premise: Leo argues with a music cube.  
** _(EchoKazul Note: This takes place during Chapter 18: Prayers, after Leo ran away. I had mentioned that I had originally planned for Leo to argue with the music cube, and the music cube responding with songs. KuraiArcoiris attempted her hand at the scene with the songs I mentioned I had planned on using.)_

The cold air pressed harder on Leo's shoulders. He had awoken to yet another sound of screeching brakes. He would never get any rest like this. Maybe if some other sound was to cover the other noises? Not loud enough to block any sound incoming intruders might make, but enough to settle his nerves?

He reached into his pillowcase and took out the music cube that Donnie had made him. For a moment he took in the intricate details of the device. He could almost see the purple brother's hands skillfully pulling apart and reassembling it to change some use or add another ability to the device. Or to block any polka music from erupting out of it.

With a wane smile, Leonardo pressed the button. A soft mournful tune slithered through the air, and piano notes trickled behind. A voice crooned out in a mournful tone a few seconds into the song.

Lonely, I'm Mr. Lonely  
I have nobody for my own

Wrinkling his beak, Leonardo glared at the music cube as the song continued to play. He considered touching the button again, but he decided to look away. He made sure not to give the cube any attention that could be interpreted as interest. The words however wormed through his brain.

Now I'm a soldier, a lonely soldier  
Away from home through no wish of my own

His heart squeezed at the words, but he did not look at the cube. He would not give the stupid thing the satisfaction. One song worth of disinterest, and the thing should shift to different music.

That's why I'm lonely, I'm Mr. Lonely  
I wish that I could go back home

He bit the inside of his lip. The song had nothing to do with his situation. He had no home to go home to. Those three brothers and their father had a home, but it was not his.

Letters, never a letter  
I get no letters in the mail

Letters. Okay, so he planned to write letters. But he wanted to be more awake to write those. And so what that he might not get letters in return? That was fine. That was safer. For those brothers and himself.

I've been forgotten, yes, forgotten  
Oh how I wonder, how is it I failed

His whole body stiffened at the words, and as the chorus started up again (he was ninja not a soldier) he near kicked the button on the cube to change the song. Piano music, again soft and sad.

When I was young  
I never needed anyone

Nope. He knew this one. Wasn't going to happen. He did kick the cube this time. Tinkling, music box notes gently floated in the small space.

I hear the ticking of the clock  
I'm lying here the room's pitch dark

Wait? This was the same artist again. How did the cube interpret hitting the button to change the music as an invitation for more of the same? Okay. Maybe letting it run was the right choice then. He made it through to the rest of the first verse. Mostly stupid romantic stuff about how the singer missed her guy or whatever. He could deal. Then the chorus was belted out:

Till now I always got by on my own  
I never really cared until I met you  
And now it chills me to the bone  
How do I—

He tried hitting the button twice instead. Didn't need to hear how that song ended. Nope. She definitely learned to live as happy without him as she had before. Guitar music replaced piano as a country song twanged in the air.

I can take the rain on the roof of this empty house  
That don't bother me

Another depressing song apparently. Well it was country music. He would let this one play out. Better than the mournful song from before. Besides this one sounded like it had nothing to do with him. Not that the others had anything to do with him either.

There are days every now and again I pretend I'm OK  
But that's not what gets me

Country songs were pretty predictable when they were being ridiculously sad. He could do this.

What hurts the most  
Was being so close  
And watching you walk away

Yep. Still had nothing to do with him. He stared at the wall away from the cube. No one walked away from him. He walked away. No matter how he tried to push them away, the brothers kept coming closer to him.

And never knowing  
What could have been  
And not seeing that loving you  
Is what I was tryin' to do

Almost reflexively he pushed the button with his foot. He did not need to think about staying. About sneaking back into his pet turtle cage and actually talking to the brothers. Telling them the truth about himself and making a plan to protect them that did not involve midnight flights to Central America. No. No what-could-have-beens. And especially no could-bes.

The words of this song started immediately. The pace a bit quicker than the other songs and had a more hopeful feel.

You know I want you  
It's not a secret I try to hide  
I know you want me  
So don't keep saying our hands are tied

Leo tried to listen to the music, not the words. The brothers did not want him. Not really. He was too much trouble. And he…he did not want them in harm's way because of him. His hands really were tied.

You claim it's not in the cards  
Fate is pulling you miles away  
And out of reach from me  
But you're here in my heart  
So who can stop me if I decide  
That you're my destiny?

Mikey might sing this. He would say something about them being destined to be bros. Raph would snort but agree. And Donnie would say he does not believe in anything as ridiculous as destiny.

You'd be the one I was meant to find  
It's up to you, and it's up to me  
No one can say what we get to be  
So why don't we rewrite the stars?

"They should never have found me," whispered Leo. His legs tucked themselves under his chin. He sounded the words out loudly blocking out some of the song. "I cannot be part of that family. You cannot rewrite fate."

No one can rewrite the stars  
How can you say you'll be mine?  
Everything keeps us apart  
And I'm not the one you were meant to find

Leo nodded at the song.

It's not up to you  
It's not up to me  
When everyone tells us what we can be  
How can we rewrite the stars?

"It is not up to us," he said a little louder. He squeezed his eyes shut. "It is far beyond us."

All I want is to fly with you  
All I want is to fall with you  
So just give me all of you

Leo wished he could. He wished he could be part of that family.

It feels impossible  
(It's not impossible)  
Is it impossible?  
Say that it's possible

"It is impossible," said Leo. He glared at the cube and pressed the button with his foot as hard as he could without making it fall over. The song cut off as the melody and notes were about to crescendo. He then turned and covered his head with the blanket before the next song started. Enough was enough. He would get through this next song just to show that he could, and then he would face the broken silence without any ambient, unnecessarily sad music. Speaking of which, more piano music. Great.

There was a boy  
A very strange, enchanted boy  
They say he wandered very far, very far  
Over land and sea

A guitar joined the piano, and blankets slid down Leo's head and folded into a wrinkle along the top of his shell as he turned to stare at the cube. This song was not like the others. Where was it going? He sat up.

A little shy and sad of eye  
But very wise was he

He could see the boy, dressed like the Peter Pan he had seen in a storybook once. But shy instead of cocky. He had liked Peter Pan because he had worn green like he did, sorta. He began to enjoy the song.

And then one day  
A magic day he passed my way  
And while we spoke of many things  
Fools and kings

Leo could imagine the boy standing on a man's balcony and talking to an older man. The old man and him smiling and enjoying each other's company.

This he said to me  
"The greatest thing you'll ever learn  
Is just to love and be loved in return"

The words snapped Leo out of his imagined scene. The piano and a guitar continued to play, and all his mind could see were three brothers standing in front of him, holding out their hands out to him. Faces he knew would never fade or lose color in his memory. Just like the picture of a grayed rat with wise eyes and a solemn smile. And maybe even the image of a man with kind, blue eyes that shone with love for his sons. The words sang out again:

"The greatest thing you'll ever learn  
Is just to love and be loved in return"

He turned the cube off before the last few piano notes tinkled into silence. Almost too harshly, he huddled against the grate he had been using for warmth. But even with it and the blanket pulled tight around his shoulders, he felt no warmth. Only cold. Cold to the center of his soul. Cold so filling that it trickled out his eyes and down his face. Tears were supposed to be warm, right? Had his reptilian body even altered that? Apparently if he wasn't warm, than neither were his tears. Great. Now everything about him was cold. His whole existence was cold. And no matter what he did, it always would be.

* * *

**Premise: Leo managed to make it to Central America. Over a year later, his brothers may have found a trace as to where their turtle brother disappeared too. In probably unrelated news, the music cube may have gained sentience.  
**_(EchoKazul Note: This was written before the brothers knew that Leo could talk/Dun showed his hand) _

As Donnie stared at the screen, Raph kept looking around at all the trees and plants, peering through their shadows and trying to catch a glimpse of anything turtle-shaped. He doubted that they would actually find anything in this place, especially their brother Leo. Mikey hadn't found Leo once in all his times playing "Where's Leo" with the security monitors back home, and Leo had been confined to one room then. How would they find him now when he had a whole jungle (a whole world) to hide in? Leo only appeared when he wanted to, and he apparently didn't want to, which was fine with Raph. Donnie and Mickey were just being stubborn.

Speaking of Mikey, Raph took a break from straining his eyes looking for idiotic turtle brothers who could and did disappear without a trace and glanced back to check on his youngest brother. He could see that the boy was struggling to remain quiet as he all but bounced on the jungle floor, but he never strayed more than a few steps away from their father.

Dad had insisted on coming with them on their search for their brother. He claimed to be fully recovered from his long years in a coma, and while he looked and sounded much better than he had, he wasn't the strong ninja Raph and Donnie remembered from their childhood. Sure, the knowledge was all there. He had already knocked them on the backsides a couple of times in training, but he usually had to sit down right after those bouts. And while his footsteps were definitely quieter than Mikey's, Dad's breaths were getting louder and louder the further into this ridiculous jungle.

Why would Leo even come to place like this? Raph rubbed his left arm where Donnie had administered the ridiculous amounts of shots required to come to this insect and disease infested country. Why would Leo pick this place of all the places in the world? And he came here without shots or anything too. Leo's probably dead. Died stupidly of some disease only found in this disgusting country.

…He hoped for Mikey's sake that they wouldn't find a corpse.

Scowling and grumbling inwardly about brothers who trust anonymous computer sources than their own brother's instincts, Raph stomped over closer to his so-called genius brother. Donnie immediately glared at him, but Raph just glared back.

"Are we done? Can we go home now?"

"No, Raph," said Donnie in his best you're-being-stupid voice. He adjusted the straps of his large brown jungle backpack. How much stuff did Donnie bring with him, anyways? "We have not reached the location of the signal."

"So? I still don't get why you're so sure that this 'signal' will lead to Leo."

"I…I," started Donnie hesitantly. He took a breath and peered through the trees in an unfocused way that was completely unlike Donnie. The self-proclaimed genius then scowled and turned back to Raph. "I just know, okay?"

"You just know," Raph repeated in a growl. Since when did his big bro "just know" things? Everything Donnie knew came with at least half an hour of explanations full of terms and words Raph couldn't hope to make sense of. This wasn't like Donnie. Why was Donnie really dragging them all on this obvious goose chase? He opened his mouth to give his big bro a piece of his mind for keeping secrets when Mikey suddenly piped up from behind them.

"Hey, you hear that?"

"Hear what?" demanded Raph spinning around to aim his scowl on his baby brother for interrupting their conversation with his nonsense.

"Quiet down, bro, and you'll hear it," said Mikey with a finger to his lips and a semi-serious look on his face. Raph growled, but then Dad put his own finger to his lips.

"Your brother is right. Listen."

Reluctantly Raph did as he was told. Green eyes blinked. Was that music? Donnie perked up and hurried quietly but fairly carelessly towards the sound. Without much hesitation, the rest of them soon followed. Words began to be audible through the once silent jungle, and Raph struggled to string them together. Something about belonging? Belonging to something and something else. Who was playing music this loudly in the middle of a freaking jungle?

Another sound soon became distinct from the music. A voice. And it sounded like it was yelling. The words of the song had stopped for a moment before starting up again to the annoyance of whoever was yelling at the music.

Close your eyes and try to sleep now  
Close your eyes and try to dream  
Clear your mind and do your best to try and wash the palette clean

"Stop it!" the voice clearly said. "Come on, Three. We've talked about this. We're hiding! You never know what's in this jungle. I don't want to unplug your power source again!"

The music kept going:

We belong to the light, we belong to the thunder  
We belong to the sound of the words we've both fallen under  
Whatever we deny or embrace for worse or for better  
We belong, we belong, we belong together

Donnie stopped in a clearing and without even glancing down at his tracking device, he looked up into the trees. Raph quickly took his place beside his brother and looked in the same direction. There in a tree far above them was a distinctly turtle shape holding a clearly lighted cube at arm's length. The music, most likely coming from the cube, slowly quieted and stopped. The turtle shape seemed to slump its shoulders a bit.

"Thank you," said the turtle shape in a voice Raph hadn't heard before and yet sounded perfectly familiar. The turtle shape suddenly tensed and looked down just as Mikey and Dad caught up to them. Blue eyes, somehow still clearly visible despite the space between them, widened, and the turtle figure drew the cube closer and hunched into a crouch several yards above them in thin-looking branch. For a moment that took forever and not long enough, they stared at each other. And then the cube beeped and started a song right in the middle:

Baby don't go  
Pretty baby please don't go  
I love you so  
Pretty ba—

The turtle shape slapped the cube, and the music suddenly stopped. He then sighed visibly, though not audibly, and sat on the branch instead of crouching on it. He then waved.

In the self-same breath, both Raph's brothers said the word Raph himself was too scare to say.

"Leo!"

"Um, hi?"

* * *

**Premise: Leo managed to make it to Central America. Over a year later, his brothers may have found a trace as to where their turtle brother disappeared too. In probably unrelated news, the music cube may have gained sentience. (Part 2)**

Donatello could not believe what was happening. Leo sat in a branch far above them, and he had waved and even said "hi." If Donnie did not recall the treacherous journey they took to get here (Donatello had spotted at least five different lethal species, and those were just the mosquitoes), he might have believed this was a dream.

He did have some very detailed dreams, but they normally did not last anywhere near this long. He doesn't get enough REM sleep for dreams this long. He had to be here. That had to be his turtle brother he's been looking for for over a year. That stupid message had to have been right.

His turtle brother broke their unintentional staring contest and slunk stealthily and smoothly out of the tree. He headed straight for Donnie, and Donnie couldn't move. Well, he could. He understood down to a near molecular level exactly how his muscles worked and in an entirely practiced physical manner how to use them, but still his mind clung to the thought that any sudden movements and his brother would be back up that tree. And then an oddly rounded forehead suddenly pressed against Donnie's shoulder.

"Leo?" Donnie repeated in an almost inaudible breath.

"You're here. You're really here," muttered Leo, and Donnie marveled at how right the sound of his brother's voice felt. How could a voice Donnie had never heard sound so right? "I'm sorry. I thought this plan would be best. It would keep us all safe. And I guess it worked. You all look good. Healthy and everything even but…I hate it."

Donnie opened his mouth, but so many thoughts raced through his head. Leo came all this way to keep them safe. The plan had worked since Dunn lost EPF support once Leo was discovered missing. Casualties had been minimized. It was actually a very clever plan. But Leo was miserable, and so were Donnie and his other brothers.

Without warning, Donnie's medical knowledge brought several new scratches and gouges into focus. And what was that indent in the middle of Leo's shell? Were Leo's scales a more yellow-pale green than before? Was that because of the climate or was Leo suffering from malnutrition? Maybe parasites? Oh wait, Leo's talking again.

"It's always damp here. It feels weird on my scales. And Three only plays certain songs on repeat because he thinks I cannot already tell how much I want to go back to New York and the Hamato compound and that stupidly comfortable turtle cage," said Leo. Donnie began to refute the idea that the meditation garden was any sort of cage, but Leo suddenly nuzzled him. A sudden burst of air indicated that Leo was taking in Donnie's scent as well. He rested his chin over his shoulder. "He was wrong. I realized I made a mistake after the first month here. I am ready to accept my fate. Please take me back. I will stay in the garden, I promise. I won't ever escape again. I'll be the best pet turtle ever. Just please, please. Take me back. Please, please kidnap me again."

Leaning his cheek on the side of his brother's head, Donnie sighed. Despite the unscientific nature of the explanation, Donnie believed their father's story of a turtle willing to carry the world on his back. A turtle who had climbed steep spiritual cliffs to bring their father's spirit back to them. This special turtle thought that they wanted to keep him as a pet?

But again, Leo spoke before Donnie could (and what had happened to Mikey to keep him quiet this long?).

"Also, I got into a scuffle with some drug lords a few weeks back, and now I have a few bullets lodged in the middle of my shell that I cannot figure out how to pry out. They are kind of itchy and bothering me. So if you could help with that, I would be grateful."

"You what!?" cried Donnie as he pushed Leo away only far enough to twist him around. Sure enough there was that indent he had noticed in his shell. He could now clearly see the shine of metal. "Why did you not start with that information?"

"Did not seem importa—"

"While it is great to learn that you can communicate, now is not the time for this," Donnie said. He looked over his shoulder and locked eyes with a paling Mikey (who looked to be in some form of shock—so that is why he had gone silent). "The emergency kit, Mikey!"

"Got it," said Mikey pulling the heavy-duty med kit out of his pack. Donnie would get the one in his own pack but that would require releasing their super-sneaky brother, and Donnie was not ready to do that just yet. Mikey handed Donnie the kit and moved to Leo's other side in one fluid movement. "So what's that stupid stuff you were saying about a turtle cage and being our pet? You know that's a pretty stupid thing to say. And that's coming from me, bro."

Their father moved slower but soon stood beside Mikey. The two started to take turns explaining the difference between pets and family, but Donnie tuned them out in order to better focus on removing the bullets from his brother's shell without causing greater harm to it.

He vaguely noticed Raph adding to the noise with some semi-necessary cursing (at their idiotic turtle brother of course) while Raph took out some water and food out of his pack. He gave it to Leo (and Donnie made a mental note to thank his younger brother later since Leo did look in dire need of actual sustenance, -again-) and then kept silent as to allow Mikey and Dad's arguments to fill the air and hopefully sink in.

As Donnie worked on digging out the last bullet from his brother's shell, he quickly took a second's break to look up at his brother. He could barely see it from this angle, but he was certain that a small smile curved Leo's lips. Refocusing on the stubborn bullet, Donnie decided to save the realization of the mirror smile on his own lips for after his brother's shell was bullet-free.

* * *

**Premise: Mikey wakes up on a plane on the way to bring their turtle brother back home from the jungle to the sound of music. (Set in the Found in the Jungle AU)**

A soft twinkling swam through the air, and a tremble echoed it. Mikey snuggled into the moving sound. The source was hard and cool and rough, and Mikey couldn't immediately figure out what it was. All he knew for sure was that he didn't want to move. Something about now was beyond good, complete, wonderful. The cool, rough surface vibrated next to his ear and under his head. The notes cheerfully swirled and rumbled, soft, solid and warming up. But why did he feel so perfect?

Mikey pried his wet and sticky eyes open. Green blurred in front of him, and Mikey blinked. Nope. Green was still there. But now he could see beyond the green to dark shades of purple with bits of blue. Oh. He was in the Asagao. Mikey chuckled quietly. Raph had been far from happy about naming their private plane after the family flower, but Donnie hadn't cared and Dad was pleased with it (or back then they thought he would be—they were right), so Asagao it was. But what was the green?

He visually traced the green down and noticed three oddly-shaped toes. Green toes. Ones that belonged to only one being Mikey knew of. Slowly so as not to disturb the gentle humming, Mikey flipped from his side to his back. He stared up. Green scales (that were more pale than leaf shade) overlapped each other, squished together in a comfortable way under a drooped chin. The vibrating tremble originated from that direction, and Mikey had a distinct longing to hear the humming make the transformation into true singing. And then words dove in to join the music.

Happiness lies beyond the clouds  
Happiness lies above the sky

Huh. Japanese. Mikey hadn't been expecting that. Though now that he was more awake and listening closer, this song sounded a little familiar. And those were definitely classic Japanese instruments.

I look up when I walk  
So the tears won't fall  
Though my heart is filled with sorrow  
For tonight I'm all alone

The music didn't match the words at all. How could the music sound all happy and the words all sad? The guy was even whistling now! What a weird song—Wait. The vibrating humming shift into something lower pitched and distinct. Scales sagged and stretched slightly in tandem with the shift.

Remembering those happy autumn days  
But tonight I'm all alone  
Sadness hides in the shadow of the stars  
Sadness lurks in the shadow of the moon

The sound above Mikey's head gained more distinction, and mumbles that could almost be words pitched and lilted with the song's melody.

I look up when I walk  
So the tears won't fall  
Though my heart is filled with sorrow  
For tonight I'm all alone

The whistling returned, as did the humming. The music somehow faded away before jarringly restarting the wordless melody. This time the mumbles came back without the outside words, and they were very clear.

Happiness lies beyond the clouds  
Happiness lies above the sky  
I look up when I walk  
So the tears won't fall  
Though my heart is filled with sorrow  
For tonight I'm all alone

How often had this song whispered around Leo that he was singing it in his sleep? In Mikey's head, a turtle sat in a tree staring up at the night sky in a jungle surrounded by nothing but plants and dangerous animals. His blue eyes filled with stars and darkness and salt water while those words sagged out of a tight throat and escaped into an uncaring night.

Mikey slapped his forehead quietly. That was only Mikey's imagination, right?…that wasn't really Leo. Donnie and Raph said his imagination was way too wild all the time. They had to be right. Leo…Leo couldn't be this…this…sick in his heart. He was already bad enough in his body.

And the song was all wrong now. Leo wasn't alone. He was with them. His heart couldn't be filled with sorrow. It couldn't be. And even if the song was even a bit true, they were in the sky. They were above the clouds. That's where the song said happiness was. Couldn't Leo feel it? Couldn't Leo feel how now everything fit? How it had all come together now that they had found him and were bringing his home?

Mikey flipped again and then flopped himself further onto his turtle brother's lap. He snuggled further into the front of Leo's shell. More cool, hard surface rubbed at Mikey's face, but Mikey smushed his face against it. Soon the cool warmed as the other part had. He then wrapped his arms around Leo's shell as far as he could, warming all the cool, hard shell as much as he could. Just in case his brother had any doubt that Mikey was here.

A slight sigh came down from above Mikey's head, and any vibrations stopped. Even the music had changed to something entirely different, filled with flutes and strings and pretty happy notes that went with no sad words. It made Mikey feel warm, and he hoped it did the same for Leo. With one last squeeze, Mikey settled back into the soft happy fullness from earlier. Knowing his brother was there made it ten times as good and complete and wonderful and –warm-…

* * *

**Premise: Donnie wants to check if the music cube has gained sentience, but Leo is a bit overprotective of the object. (Set in Found in the Jungle AU…again)**

Leo visibly struggled to hold back his suspicion. His face twisted and untwisted from unsure expression to outright hostility. Finally his eyes narrowed but did not turn white.

"Why do you want Three?"

Donnie sighed. He had hoped his brother's attachment to the music cube would have waned as Leo recovered and spent more time around actual people. None of them had felt up to introducing Leo to the rest of the clan yet, but Leo had spent plenty of time with Dad, Mikey, Raph, and Donnie himself. Surely Leo did not still need that over programmed music box (though Donnie was beyond words to describe how happy he was that Leo liked Donnie's work that much).

"To check its batteries. I did use Krang technology to power it, but I did not expect them to last this long."

Donnie was lying through his teeth. Those batteries should last decades with how he designed them. But something about that music cube did not sit well with Donnie. Especially after that message.

"Try again," said Leo flatly. His eyes remained narrowed, his face tight, and his grip on the cube like iron. Donnie bit the inside of his cheek. How come this brother of all of them had to come with a seemingly in-built lie detector?

"Look, Leo. I just want to look at it. I promise," said Donnie holding out his hand for the cube. Leo's face relaxed a fraction, and his grip slackened. And then that cursed cube, which had been blessedly silent, decided to break that silence.

And I am telling you I'm not going  
You're the best man I'll ever know  
There's no way I can ever go

Leo's grip instinctively tightened around the malfunctioning device.

"Seriously!" cried Donatello throwing up his hands. He decided to try playing to Leo's delusion (because that is what it had to be). "Can you tell that thing that I am not going to take it apart?!"

The song switched mid-note.

We can't go on together  
With suspicious minds (suspicious minds)

"I do not think Three believes you," said Leo with a smirk.

"I just want to see what is up with its programming!"

Another near screech as the music changed in a nanosecond.

I know when,  
Somebody's lying,  
I know when somebody's lying.

"I told you, I am not going to take you to pieces!" Donnie near yelled directly at the device. "I just want to make sure you are safe for my brother!"

The music abruptly stopped. Leo's blue eyes widened. Donnie inwardly fumed, though he tried to keep it off his face. Did it still surprise Leo that they worried about him? That they did not want to risk even the smallest chance that they might lose him again?

Suddenly Raph's voice crackled into the room.

"Listen, Donnie—there's something—you need—to know."

The words were disjointed. Taken from different sentences from various conversations. Now Donnie stared wide-eyed at the device in Leo's arms. He had not programmed it to record sound. Mikey's voice came next.

"Hey, Leo. Why'd you name it Three?"

"What? The music cube?" a recording of Leo's voice answered. "Um…that is because for a while there all it would play was like three songs, so I just took calling it that. You know how it goes. It took various times before it went from 'these three again' and 'come on, not these three' to 'Three, stop that' and 'Three, something else please.'"

"That makes sense. But I bet that isn't the real reason."

"Really? And what is the real reason?"

"Easy. You missed us. So you named the cube 'Three' because it reminded you of your three awesome brothers."

"…"

"Wait. Are you blushing? I didn't know your cheeks could go pink like that, bro! Pink is so your color. It looks great with your natural green tone."

"…shut up."

"…to tell the truth, Leo, I just wanted to think you missed us enough to name your cube after all of us. But…is that really the reason?"

Silence filled the room for a minute, long enough for Donatello to note the shade of pink on green that Mikey had mentioned.

"…yes."

For a few minutes, the two stared at the cube. That one word echoed in Donnie's mind. Leo had missed them. Donnie had thought he had gotten that fact from the way Leo had all but cuddled up to him in the middle of the jungle. But Donnie had not realized how much he needed to know that Leo had thought of them. That Leo had not spent over a year choosing to forget everything about them. Had not chosen to leave them entirely behind.

The music cube (Three) started up a new song right in the middle of the chorus.

It still feels a little bit scary  
But I want you to know  
I'll be ok now, Daddy  
You can let go

With a grimace and pinked cheeks, Leo stretched out the cube to place it in Donnie's hands. Donnie held the cube with the care he would give a living thing. He bit the inside of his cheek again before locking eyes with Leo.

"I found you because someone send me an email with a GPS tracker attached." Leo tilted his head, and Donnie gave him a smirk and then looked down at the cube in his hands. "It said 'Please come get Daddy. He misses you.'"

Donnie looked up in time to see complete shock scroll over Leo's whole face.

"So don't worry," Donnie continued. He gave the cube a fond little pat. "I will take care of Jr. for you."

Note: For the record (since I'll never be able to explain this in a drabble), Three is basically this universe's Nano. If you've seen the 2003 TMNT cartoon (and it sounds like you have), you'll know the sad fate that AI had simply by being attached to the wrong person. In this universe, he's attached to the right one and is now a sentient music cube rather than nano technology. I could explain in detail how that came about, but I'll leave it with Donnie has access to more technology in this world because he's rich. Including new nano technology programs that he may or may not have being tinkering around with. I like to think Nano is happier being Three.

* * *

_Note by KuraiArcoiris: Onto this chapter's scribbling... So it's still inspired by this story, because there is very little chance I would have thought about and wrote this any other way. But this scribbling is about Nano and 2k3!Leo. Yay, the 2k3 universe. Is it weird that I have literally never written anything in my favorite TMNT universe before now? Sorry that it isn't directly related to your fic, but maybe close enough?_

**Premise: Nano escapes a little earlier and falls into the sewers. Wet and short-circuiting, he's found by Leo who decides to bring him back to lair for Donnie.**

He had tried to get up, but all of him felt hot and full of static. He couldn't think straight. Maybe he should have stayed. Maybe he should have not used the parts to escape. Shock didn't hurt as much as wet shock.

"Oh. What do we have here? Are you some sort of toaster?" came garbled words that he could still use programing to decipher. Wet moved and dripped off. Shaking threw more wet off. "A tiny robot?"

He dared to go to move some of him to the outer shell he had been using.

"Woah! It is moving!"

He could feel hands. He used dozens of tiny eyes to input data about what was holding him. Green. Had eyes like human. Not human, had shell-like structure around torso. Had puzzled expression, or as best he could tell. Had three fingers on each hand. Nonhuman status confirmed.

"Okay. So you are definitely not a toaster. I bet Donnie would like you. Looks like you are coming with me."

Movement occurred soon after, and his shell's limbs flapped insecurely. He wrapped them around the three-fingered hand to ensure he would not fall.

"Holding on there? No need to worry. I will not drop you."

He let out a little confirming chirp. He loosened his grip. The unknown creature did not let him go. He liked the creature.

Using his sensors, he noted the speed at which they were going. 31.25 miles per hour. They were going fast. The creature did a flip, and the sensors were momentarily overloaded. He chirped again.

"Heh. Liked that did you? How about this?"

The creature did another flip and then bounced off the wall before using the wetness to slide down at a faster rate. He beeped and chirped. The parts of him on the loose limbs enjoyed the overload of sensory information. He decided immediately that this new creature with a firm grip and enjoyable speed would be his…his… He searched his files for the record of the boy whose metal object he had used as a shell. He had called his larger human a name…Daddy. This creature would be his Daddy.

More sensory filled movements occurred, but too soon they ceased. They entered an area that was better lit than those they had run through.

"Donnie," called Daddy. "I found something interesting during my run."

"Really?" came another voice. His dozens of eyes took in the image of another creature like his Daddy. Perhaps there were dozens of them that lived in this underground like humans lived over-ground? If so then these creatures might be kinder than the humans. "What is it?"

"I am not sure. That is why I brought it back for you." Wait. Did that mean Daddy was going to give him away? Did Daddy's give their boys away? From what he had observed that did not seem to occur with the humans. Maybe these creatures were less kind than humans. Or maybe Daddy did not know he was Daddy yet.

"Let me see," said the other creature. No. He would not let Daddy give him away. Daddy had already given him good data and proved that he was kind. He did not know about this other creature.

"Sure. Her—hey!"

He shifted his shell to fit the three-fingered hand in a way he could not be pulled off.

"How did it do that?" asked the other creature.

"I do not know. I knew it could move, but I did not know it could reconfigure itself like that," said Daddy. Silly Daddy. He could do so much more than that.

"It is not hurting you, is it?" asked the other creature. No. He would never hurt Daddy. Why would this other creature think that?

"No. It is snug, but it is not constricting blood flow. I do not think it wants to hurt me," said Daddy. He was pleased. Daddy understood.

"Maybe it got attached to you?" said the other creature. Perhaps he was smarter than he had thought.

"But it is a machine of some sort, right? Why would it get 'attached' to anyone? How can it have feelings?"

"Bring it to the lab and let us find out," said the other creature. Daddy and the other creature moved to another part of the well-lighted area. He did not move from Daddy's arm. A lab. It did not look like the one with the mean humans. But it did not look like a place he would want to stay. Especially without Daddy.

"Put your arm here."  
"Be careful. I think it is scared."

"Scared? Fifteen seconds ago you were wondering how it could get attached, and now you are attributing emotions to it?"

"I…I do not know why. But I feel like it is scared for some reason," said Daddy. He had chosen the right Daddy. He understood. And he would be the best little boy for Daddy. If Daddy wanted this other creature to look at him, he would let the other creature examine him. But only if Daddy stayed. "I think it will let you examine it now."

"Will it? If it could get under my microscope it would be helpful and more effective than what I was going to try."

"Can you do that for Donnie?" Daddy asked. His arm bounced a miniscule amount when he stretched out a metal wire with part of him and placed it under the microscope. The rest of him stayed on Daddy's arm.

"Okay. That happened. So let us see what you are," said the other creature called Donnie. He was as silly as Daddy. He knew what he was. He was Daddy's best boy

* * *

**Premise: Hamato Yoshi never went into a coma and mourns the loss of his pet rat and his sons' pet turtle. Then strange people come around asking questions about possible mutated turtles, and the Hamatos end up looking far deeper into the inquiries. And Yoshi ends up rescuing a young and very scared turtle.**

The wrapped blankets shivered violently, and Yoshi pulled the bundle closer. His small strike force of elite ninja would arrive at the location of the safe house soon. Given what the Hamato technicians (and Yoshi's own son) had found about the organization they were attempting to escape, the safe house would only be safe for a few days at best. A few hours at worst.

He freed one hand from supporting the cocoon of blankets and lifted it to give his elites their orders. A quick, hard nod from each confirmed their compliance. The group split, and all six elite ninjas took off in a different direction.

Yoshi took an equally random seeming direction and then used a deeply shadowed alley to slip under a manhole and disappear into the sewers. He then ran down the sewage tunnel. He took several sharp turns until after yet another tight corner he saw the small etching of an asagao. Slowing to a stop, Yoshi pressed the etching and then pushed. The wall gave way and opened like the door it was. Yoshi slipped into the opening and then instantly let the wall close up behind him.

Another etching of an asagao was carved into this side of the wall, and even in the dim light Yoshi quickly found it and slid it sideways. Several lights flickered on and a quiet but definite click came from the wall. Should the EPF find this place, they would find it near impossible to open. Eventually they would find a way to break through the walls around the door, but not without alerting him of their presence with enough time for him and his precious cargo to escape.

"We're safe," Yoshi told the small form in the blankets. Small, three-fingered hands clung to his uwagi, and Yoshi covered one with his much larger one. "Let us look you over."

The thick green fingers hooked themselves deeper into his uwagi, and Yoshi's father's heart lurched at the trembling shaking his chest. He moved over to the couch set not too far from the door (because one must always prepare for the possibility of wounded). He sat down and set the bundle down as gently as he could.

The hands remained tangled in his clothes, and so the blankets that Yoshi had hurriedly stolen to cover his…this child slipped off. Immediately Yoshi's temper rose as he took in the sight of scratched (no gouged) shell and arms covered in small, precisely deep cuts. No hair hid the darkening bruises along the small child's neck. The head itself looked to have some very troubling puncture wounds. Both to comfort and to hide the view for a while longer, Yoshi placed a hand behind the little one's head.

"I need to know," said Yoshi quietly. "Does anything hurt?"

The head shook, and Yoshi's hand gave the small head a slight affectionate squeeze. The child's whole body shuddered at the pressure, and Yoshi pulled the hand away as if it burned.

"No," a quiet voice squeaked. "No…please—"

The desperate words cut themselves off, and Yoshi could not stop himself from enfolding the child's whole form in his arms. He pulled the child close enough for the small head to press itself against his shoulder instead of Yoshi's chest. Yoshi then picked him up and cradled the child. The child was so light for his size. He looked to be Raphael's size, but he weighed less than Michelangelo.

Small sobs hiccupped into Yoshi's ear, and moisture collected on his uwagi. Gently but firmly enough to keep a hold on the shaking child, Yoshi rubbed the battered shell. He murmured no assurances. He made no promises. He held the child and let him cry.

The image of the child (not much older than Yoshi's second son) strapped to a table with a whirling doctor's saw looming over him haunted Yoshi. The carved crevices that snagged at Yoshi's fingers brought other probable nasty images to Yoshi's mind. The deep scabs on green flesh that Yoshi could almost make out from the corners of his eyes conjured other equally horrifying visions. Despite not having any true confirmation, Yoshi could say one thing because regardless of blood it would now always be true.

"I have you, my son," Yoshi whispered into the turtle's small ear. He carefully increased the pressure of his hold, just enough to reassure the child and himself. "No one will take you away from me without a fight. And they will find the price of even partial success only leads to complete and crushing failure, courtesy of me and mine."

The crying subsided at the words, and then deep, dark blue eyes met Yoshi's.

"…everything hurts," the quiet voice murmured. Yoshi had to use a quick meditation technique to keep from crushing the turtle in a tighter embrace. Instead he softly pulled the turtle to arm's length in order to get a better view of the damage.

A nick on the child's plastron boiled Yoshi's blood. Several scabs that matched the ones scarring the boy's arms and ran across the boy's legs made Yoshi see red. He took several subtle deep breaths, but the child-his child noticed his distress.

His child shuffled and nearly fell trying to get out of Yoshi's grip. Readjusting to hold his child and keep him from falling off the couch, Yoshi caught those dark, blue eyes again. They resembled scattering marbles: bright, glassy, and skittering every which way.

Yoshi reflexively pushed his forehead against his child's. He caught the boy wince and then suddenly still. He brought a hand up to the back of his child's neck and gave it a gentle squeeze. A battered breath sighed out of his child's mouth.

"I know this is difficult," Yoshi whispered. "But we need to take this time to heal what we can before heading out. The EPF has made a dangerous enemy today, and the Hamato clan must prepare for war."

"War?" his child's quiet voice questioned. Yoshi nodded and hummed an assent. "Because of me?"

"No," said Yoshi firmly. He pulled away to look straight into his child's dark (so dark) eyes again. "Because of them. Because they dare to treat one of ours as nothing more than research. Because they dare harm one of mine, one of Hamato blood."

"Me?" his child whispered back. Those blue eyes glimmered through their darkness.

"You," Yoshi confirmed. He pressed his forehead against his child's again. "Because they dared hurt you, my son."

His child pressed his forehead back. "…my shell hurts most."

Yoshi's eyes burned with anger and sorrow. The EPF would pay. He pulled away from his child slowly and then gave his child his warmest smile. At the sight of shining blue eyes, that smile came easily.

"Lay on your stomach, I think I have a technique that will help with that shell of your."

* * *

**Premise: Hamato Yoshi and his boys found Splinter and Leonardo shortly after they mutated. Donatello is fascinated by Leo's rapid growth.**

"And what is this?"

"Circle," said Leo.

"And this?"

"Square."

"And this?"

"Octodan?"

"Octagon. Close enough."

"Donnie, what are you doing?" asked Raph as he entered the kitchen. Donnie stood in front of their newest brother who sat in his high chair. Flashcards with differing shapes separated the two.

"Testing his intelligence. Can you believe he can identify most of these shapes despite only being mutated three months ago? I mean that he can speak so clearly so quickly is already impressive. But he is not supposed to be identifying shapes for another three years. Even Mikey still has trouble with shape recognition!"

"Yeah. So? Maybe that muta-matu-green yucky stuff made him smarter. It couldn't be hard to make someone smarter than Mikey."

"Mikey is only three. Besides you had trouble with your shapes for the longest time."

"I did not. I just didn't want you shoving flashcards in my face all the time. Like you're doing to Leo," Raph moved to his brothers' side. "Stop it. He's gonna get bored. 'Besides' he wants to play with me now."

"No he does not. He appreciates my stimulating his mind. One day, he will be as smart as I."

"Pfft. No way. Leo is gonna be as strong as me!" Raph reached down and flexed his baby turtle brother's arms. "Right, Leo?"

"We do not need another brother who thinks more with every other muscle but his brain!" cried Donnie, trying to snatch his turtle brother out of his hot-headed brother's grip.

"Boys, what are you up to so early in the morning?" asked a firm voice from the door of the kitchen.

"Nothing, Dad," the two boys said in unison turning to their father with absolute innocence as they let Leo go simultaneously.

"That is good to hear. And how are you doing, Leonardo?"

"'ine, Dad," chirped the tiny turtle tot. "'onnie show me shapes."

"Oh did he?" said the man with a raised eyebrow. He turned to his oldest. "And how is he doing with those?"

"Really, really well, Dad. At the rate he is going, he will reach my level of intelligence by the end of his second year!"

"I am glad he is doing well, but beware of putting too much expectation on your brother. The mutagen might be enhancing his growth in intelligence only briefly. His learning curve may level out to become somewhere around your brothers' levels as he grows older."

"I know that. That is why I want to stimulate his growth now while he is still under  
the mutagen's enhancing effects," said Donnie gesturing to the cards sharply. He then glared at Raph. "But Raph wants to waste time playing with him."

"A child needs both mental and physical stimulation," the man said solemnly. "Let your brother play with Leo for a while. Besides it will soon be time to wake your other younger brother and stimulate his mental growth."

"But Daaaad," whined his oldest.

"You heard him," said Raph, pulling Leo out of his baby seat and lifting him into his arms. "It's playtime with Raph, Leo. We're gonna play ninja and try to sneak up on Uncle Splinter."

Leo's large blue eyes stared at Donnie, and Donnie sighed and crossed his arms.

"Just go."

Sticking out his tongue at his older brother, Raph did just that carrying a quieter-than-usual Leo out. Donnie squeezed the inside of his elbows and recalled pi to the 20th digit. As he arrived to the 14th digit, a hand settled on his shoulder. Donnie looked up automatically at his dad.

"Do I have to teach Mikey? He does not pay the least amount of attention."

"You do, but Mikey's hyperactivity can wait. I believe we need to discuss why are you so focused on Leonardo's growth."

"Well…," Donnie started, trying to put his thoughts together. Why did his dad want to talk about that? "I want him to be smart. Like me."

"Would you love him more if he were smart like you?"

"No! No, that is not it. I will love him no matter what. I mean I love Mikey and Raph a lot, and they are not the least bit smart!"

"Donatello," the man said in a low tone.

"I meant they are not math and science smart," Donnie quickly explained. He fiddled with his fingers. "Both of them are good at doing physical exercises. Raph can already defeat me in a single match in the dojo. Mikey is really good at things like climbing out of his crib and up walls, and he follows Raph around everywhere. You can already tell he is physically inclined. I just…I just wanted a brother who would be smart like me…Someone who will listen to me when I talk about science and math…and won't walk away or get distracted…"

Oh. That is what Dad wanted to know.

"My smart boy," said the man with ocean blue eyes warm and bright. "Whether or not your brother Leonardo becomes as smart as you or not, he will listen to you."

"Why do you think that?" asked Donnie, barely daring to look back into his dad's eyes and check for lies.

"He listens to you now, does he not? During all of the times I have seen you try to aid your brothers' education, I have not seen either of your other two brothers stare at you with the intensity I have seen from Leo."

"True. He always looks at what I show him, even if he does not always get it at first."

"And I have a feeling this will be true for the rest of your lives."

"You think so?"

"I know so."

* * *

**Premise: Mickey didn't have a favorite brother. But if he did, it would definitely be Leo. Set in the Found at Mutation AU. (Because now I have started naming these…)**

Setting the block carefully on top of the others, Mikey giggled at his super tall tower. He looked around to see who he would show his creation to. Catching sight of his biggest bro, Mikey got up (very carefully so as not to know over the tower) and then ran over to his tallest bro.

"Donnie! Donnie!" he called excitedly. Donnie looked up from the mess of wires and metal he was working on. Mikey briefly imagined what his bigger bro was making, but then he knew that he would never guess so he gave his bigger bro a huge smile. He knew Donnie would be proud that Mikey made something just like he always did. He waved his hands back to the tower he built. "Look! I made a tower!"

Donnie looked at the tower only a little before looking back at his mess of stuff.

"That's good, Mikey," he said in his I'm-not-really-paying-attention way. Mikey's arms drooped. Okay, maybe it wasn't wow enough for Donnie. Mikey could make it more wow.

Fifteen minutes later, Mikey stood up again. His tower was now a cool castle. Donnie would have to say it was wow now. Before he could get to his bigger bro, Raph came into the room carrying Leo like a plane.

"Vroom, vroom!" Raph yelled. Leo giggled, and Mikey looked at his two smaller bros. He wanted to do that.

"My turn! My turn!" cried Mikey, throwing up his arms to Raph. Raph put Leo down.

"Well, that depends. Are you going to take Spike out of his aquarium again?" asked Raph. Mikey bit his lip. Raph knew he took Spike out again. But Spike looked sad in his glass box. Mikey didn't think Leo would have liked to be in a glass box if he had stayed a normal turtle.

"Spike doesn't like being in the glass box."

"Spike likes being in his 'aquarium,' Mikey! It's his home. He only likes it when I take him out!"

"But Raph—"

"No buts, Mikey. Since you took Spike out, you don't get airplane rides. Go back to playing with your blocks."

Mikey's eyes got hot, and he bit his lip harder. He looked straight at Raph.

"Go ahead and cry. I don't care," said Raph, looking back at Mikey before turning away. He kept talking quieter. "Spike could have gotten hurt."

"What did you make, Mikey?" asked Leo. Mikey turned to his smallest bro. Leo was looking at Mikey's block castle. It didn't look so wow now.

"A castle," Mikey mumbled.

"Wow! That's so cool, Mikey," said Leo walking over to the blocks. He pointed to gap in the towers. "Is that where the drawbridge goes?"

"Where what goes?"

"The drawbridge. Donnie told me about them last time we talked about castles." Leo turned away from the pile of blocks and towards their biggest brother. "Donnie! Can you explain drawbridges to Mikey?"

"Drawbridges? What for?" asked Donnie still not looking up from the whatever-he-was-making. Donnie's tongue stuck out of his mouth a little, so Mikey felt his shoulders squish near his head like he was a turtle. He wished he could hide his head in his shell like Leo could. Donnie would never look at his castle now…

Leo's blue eyes grew sharp like Dad's swords, the ones Leo always looked at when they went into the dojo. Leo stomped over to Donnie. How Leo could stomp without making almost any noise, Mikey didn't know. He pulled on Donnie's sleeve. The part Donnie was working on nearly fell to the floor.

"Leo! Careful! This is important!"

"So's showing Mikey what a drawbridge is. Dad said you had to watch us today, not make stuff. You can make stuff later. I'll help you later," Leo said in his serious voice. He grabbed Donnie's sleeve again, but softer this time. "But first we are going ta show Mikey what a drawbridge is."

"He's got you there, Donnie," said Raph with a rough laugh. The kinda laugh that Donnie called a kinda candy bar.

"And you are going to help us too, Raph," said Leo.

"And why am I going to do that?" said Raph in a growl. Mikey stretched out his neck to look at his bigger bro. He didn't look happy, and Mikey shook his head at Leo. But Leo smiled very sharply. Swords again. His big bro was scary when he was out of his shee—shai—shoth thing? What were the things where swords rested called?

"Because if not I'll tell Dad and Uncle Splinter who poured out all their favorite green tea just so he did not have ta drink any more."

Raph got very straight, and then he frowned very darkly.

"Fine."

Leo's smile grew bigger, and then he looked happily at Mikey again.

"We're going ta show you what a drawbridge is, Mikey!"

Mikey smiled back at his wow big bro. His arms shot up, and he gave a happy cry as all three of his brothers came to see his castle and make it so much more wow!

* * *

**Premise: A little Leo stumbles upon a very enthusiastic child who follows him home.**

"Sensei, sensei!"

Slowly but gracefully rising from his meditation position, Splinter headed to the entrance of the small lair where he and his son lived. His heart threatened to give out.

There standing next to his little green son and holding his three-fingered hand was a small Asian human boy about 8 years old. Leonardo wore a large smile as he pulled the equally smiling boy towards Splinter.

"Sensei, this is Mikey. He was lost, but I found him. Can he stay here for a little while?"

Words failed him. Where had he gone wrong? How could his son have brought such danger into their home? Leonardo had always been a level-headed child who seemed to understand the peril their very existence brought. Where had he gotten the idea that bringing some random child into their home was anywhere near safe?

"Hi, my name's Mikey. I'm 7 and three fourths. My bros and me are visiting New York because Donnie said we needed to find something that would help Dad. I don't remember what the something was, but I was trying to help my bros find it when I got lost."

"You got lost after nightfall near the sewers?" asked Splinter, shock being overwhelmed by confusion.

"Yep," answered the small Asian boy, the smile on his face growing wider. Splinter felt all the weight of his age in one instant. What would the family say once the boy was discovered to be missing? What if they sent search parties? What if those search parties followed his trails into the sewers and found a giant rat and turtle caring for him? They would certainly not assume that the giant mutated rat and turtle had found the boy and were just taking care of him until they could find his family. And they wouldn't take what they considered mutated vermin to court or jail either.

"He said he fell from one of the piers and washed up in one of the tunnels. Or that's how I understood his explanation."

"Where were you and your brothers when you fell into the bay?" asked Splinter, a little worried for this poor boy. If he fell into the polluted Hudson near enough to a sewage drain to wash up in it, then he might have been exposed to all sorts of harmful substances and bacteria. The boy was lucky that there had been an unusual combination of high tide and weeks of rain, otherwise the whole situation could have been worse.

"Um…I don't remember. I don't think it was somewhere that Dunn-san or Bradford-sensei would have wanted us to be. But I dunno if they would be mad was because it was dangerous or because we'd find something to wake Dad up."

"Wake your father? Is your father a heavy a sleeper?" asked Splinter in an ironic tone. This child was making little sense.

"Well he hasn't woken up since I was very little, so I guess you can say he's a really, really, really heavy sleeper."

"How can someone sleep for that long?" asked Leonardo, looking very confused at the small boy in the orange shirt.

"I dunno. Donnie says that he in something called a combo or something…"

"Coma," Splinter corrected as he realized exactly what the child was talking about. He grabbed his walking stick. "So perhaps they were somewhere near the pharmaceutical district."

"That sounds like something Donnie would say," the boy commented.

"Let us head in that direction then," said Splinter as he started towards the sewer tunnel that would lead to the dock nearest the pharmaceutical district. Suddenly a figure burst out of the shadows of the tunnel and attempted to slam into Splinter. The trained ninja stepped left and allowed the hurtling figure to charge past him. The figure turned and attempted another lunge, which Splinter blocked with his walking stick.

"Run, Mikey!" yelled the figure. "I'll hold him off."

"Ack!" yelped Leonardo. With panic and anger coursing through his veins, Splinter knocked the charging figure aside to speed to his son's side. Another boy, older than the small Asian boy who had brought deadly danger into Splinter's son's life, held a bo staff to Leonardo's neck. With a harsh backhand, the older boy sailed across the room and landed on the battered sofa and near broke it. Splinter sensed the other figure (a boy as well) dive towards him as the giant rat grabbed the staff dropped by the first attacker. It would do more damage than his stick. He swung the staff at the attacker, but he halted the strike as the small Asian boy lunged between the two.

"Stop! Stop it! They weren't hurting me!" yelled the child named Mikey. The attacking boy barely halted before slamming into the small child. The small child turned towards Splinter with large blue eyes. "Please Mr. Rat Man, don't hurt them! They don't want to hurt you!"

"Speak for yourself," said the diving figure as he tried to move around the small Asian child. Now getting a closer look at the intruder, Splinter estimated he was between the first child's age and the one now trying to stand up from the couch. Without taking more time to observe their opponents, Splinter sprinted towards Leonardo, dropped the bo staff, and scooped up the child-sized turtle before hurrying towards one of the pre-planned escape routes our of their lair.

"Wait!" the first child yelled. "We want to say thank you! Don't go!"

"Like I said speak for yourself!" said the other boy, and Splinter disregarded the pleas. He would not risk his son to sate one little boy's nosiness. He hurried into the sewer tunnel.

"Michelangelo, let them go!" said a new voice. "They could be dangerous."

His whole body stilled. Michelangelo? Mikey was a shortened form of Michelangelo. And there were two more boys who were his brothers. And they were all of Asian descent.

It could not be. He should keep running. He should run until he finds a place in this maze of sewers where he and his son could rest and recoup. He should not be entertaining the thought that the only human children in the world that he considered with equal fondness as his son could have found their way into Splinter and Leonardo's sewer home.

"No, they aren't, Donatello," said the first voice harshly, and Splinter flinched at the name. Leonardo stared up at his father with curious and concerned blue eyes. He looked back in the direction that the voices were drifting from.

"Look, that giant rat threw me across the room like I weighed nothing," the newest voice explained in clear exasperation. Donatello if the youngest child was correct. "I didn't even have a chance to hold onto my bo staff. He could have really hurt you."

"Yeah, but only 'cause you hurt Leo."

"Leo?" asked the possible Donatello.

"Uh huh. The cool big turtle you slammed to the ground. His name was Leonardo, but I thought it'd be fun to call him Leo for short."

"…that's not funny, Mikey," said the other boy's voice, and Splinter fought back his hope as it suggested a name to go with the gruff child's voice.

"It's not a joke! Leo liked it when I called him that. He said his dad always calls him by his full name and that he'd never had a friend to call him anything else. And then you had to go off and scare him away and now he's lost his first friend and is gonna get scolded a whole lot by his dad for trying to help me!"

The child sounded genuinely upset about the prospect of Leonardo getting in trouble over him. Allowing the hope to grow stronger than caution, he took a few steps backwards though he stayed in the shadows. Leonardo did not move the slightest in his grip, seeming to sense that Splinter needed him still. The ninjitsu master did not want to take any unnecessary chances, but if…

"Mikey!" said the one who might be named Donatello. "What are the chances you would find a turtle named Leonardo in the sewers of New York City?"

"Really high seeing as I already did."

"Stop making things up just because we chased off your new friends," said the other boy who Splinter's mind wanted to label as Raphael. "Come on, we need to get out of here before they come back."

"It is unlikely that they will return. They seemed fairly intelligent given the set up of this place, and if they can talk like Mikey says, then they will know better to return to a place where people have already discovered them."

"I'm not making stuff up. Those two were really trying to help me, and you two hurt them."

Silence followed the youngest's statement, and Splinter dared to peek back into their lair. The older boys stared at the youngest with semi-guilty looks on their faces, though the middle child quickly morphed his face into annoyance.

"Look, either way they're gone," the gruff child said. "So let's get out of here. I don't like the look of this place or the thought of the things that crawl around here if those two are any idea."

"Take that back! They were nice! Nicer than you anyway," grumbled the youngest ("Michelangelo," Splinter's hope whispered).

"What'd you say?" demanded the gruff child (who might be named Raphael). He quickly caught the youngest child in a headlock and rubbed his knuckles over the smaller boy's skull. "I'll show you nicer!"

"Ow! Let go!" squealed the youngest child as he tried to wiggle out of the older boy's hold. Splinter could see six ways that the younger boy could have thrown the older boy off, but whether because of lack of training or lack of desire, the youngest child remained trapped. "Come on, Raph! Let go!"

Raph. Almost all doubt fled at the shortened name. Leonardo seemed to sense the shift of Splinter's belief and squirmed out of the rat's hold. He stood beside Splinter and gazed at him with questions in his eyes. With a sigh, Splinter stepped out of the sewer tunnel and back into the lair that had been his and his son's for years now.

He stood there in the light for a full three minutes watching as the two boys wrestled while the third looked on in a mix of annoyance and relief. Leonardo stood next to Splinter in patient but fascinated wonder. The look on his son's face solidified Splinter's decision, and the ninjitsu master cleared his throat.

The reaction was near immediate as the two tousling on the ground stopped, and two of the three boys tensed and adopted battle-ready stances that now looked all-too-familiar. The third bounced up with a giant smile and wide arms.

"You came back!"

"Yes. This is our home after all," said Splinter calmly. "And I appear to have forgotten my manners. I would like to welcome the esteemed heirs to the Hamato clan to our humble residence."

Three pairs of wide eyes silenced any lingering doubts, and Splinter looked down at his son with a warm smile that blossomed out of hope fulfilled.

"Would you make tea for our guests, Leonardo?" said Splinter, nudging his semi-stunned son towards their makeshift kitchen. "I believe they have many questions, as do we."

"Hai, sensei," Leonardo said out of habit rather than any real thought and walked mindlessly over to the kitchen. The youngest child (Michelangelo—his hope shouted victoriously from his soul) nearly split his face with his own grin and literally bounced to Leonardo.

"So your dad knows our family?" asked Michelangelo, his voice brimming with joy and excitement.

"Um…I think Sensei thinks we are family," answered Leonardo.

"Woah," Michelangelo gasped his mouth wide open before returning to that face-splitting smile. "That's a hundred times better, dude!"

* * *

_Note from KuraiArcoiris: That whole "magic turtle" comment kinda went with a scribbling I had been playing around with in my head, soooo…between watching Crimes of Grindelwald and that comment, the scribbling forced itself to be written. You don't have to be a Wizarding World fan to enjoy the following since a lot is conjecture, but there will be quite a few Harry Potter references. I hope you like it despite it being a bit of a crossover._

**Premise: In Japan, breaking the statute of secrecy is considered a crime of the highest degree. So what can three brothers do when their turtle brother shows no signs of magic? Go back to school and sulk?**

Mikey stared despondently at the computer. A slight pressure touched his shoulder. Baby blue eyes slid to the side.

"Oh, it's you Craney," Mikey muttered. He slumped further into his seat. The charmed paper crane on his shoulder fluttered to keep its balance. "Long time no see. Sorry I'm not more happy to see you, but you're part of the stupid school that is keeping me from my big brother."

"Actually given how long he has been fluttering around here, I think it safe to assume he is more part of the Hamato family compound than Mahoutokoro."

"He still came from Mahoutokoro first," grumbled Mikey. He rolled his head back and tilted the chair he was sitting on dangerously onto two legs so he could look at his second eldest brother. "Are you sure we can't sneak the laptop into school?"

"As I have already explained 6 times, the high concentration of magic will fry it," answered Donnie. He took a few steps and tilted Mikey's chair back onto its four feet. Mikey opened his mouth, but Donnie cut him off. "And no, I cannot magic proof it. Toriyama-sensei charmed my robes to change to puke green if I try to sneak in modified technology again."

"Can't you uncharm your robes?"

"And risk activating the safeguard charms he has undoubtedly also placed? No. Perhaps with the magic programming class I have this year, I will better be able to analyze spells without the use of invasive spells," said Donnie as he batted the paper crane off Mikey's shoulder. "But I am sure Toriyama-sensei will take my classes into account."

"Why couldn't we go to one of the other wizarding schools? I heard the one in England only makes you go for seven years. That means you could stay with Leo."

"Mahoutokoro has a long tradition of making sure their students are prepared for the ningen-ko-filled world. And to today's board of education that means a full eleven years of education," answered Donnie. A grimace crossed his face. "If I had started when I was supposed to, then I would already be done."

"Yeah, stupid Dun," Mikey agreed, his frown deepening at the would-be murderer of all his brothers. He was really glad that horrible man was no longer running their lives. Mikey's gaze returned to the computer. "What do you think Leo would be like as a mahōtsukai?" He brightened at the thought. "I bet he would be great at Quidditch!"

"Seeker or beater?" Donnie said. Mikey caught the amused glint in Donnie's mahogany eyes. Donnie liked the idea too.

"Keeper," said Mikey. "Nothing would get past him."

"Makes sense. And I bet he would have a good handle on advanced ancient runes. They are not too unlike circuitry, and he has shown himself more than capable in that regard."

"Leo would do good in all his classes. His robes would be silver at least."

"Definitely," Donnie said with a grin that mirrored Mikey's own. "He would have made a good Quidditch captain too."

"What are you two talking about?" asked Raph as he strode into the room. Craney immediately perched on Raph's head. Raph made no motion to indicate he felt anything land on his head. Probably because it always rested there when Raph was nearby.

"What Leo would have done if he had magic," said Mikey.

"He would have joined our dueling club," said Raph. "And he would have made an awesome Vice-Captain."

"You wish. Leo would have totally been straight-up Captain," said Mikey. Raph scowled but didn't argue. They all knew it was true. "Maybe it's a good thing he doesn't have magic. I mean can you imagine how overpowered he would be with magic. He's super strong without it. With it he would be a monster."

"The same could be said about us," said Donnie. "The Hamato clan has always been known as one of the few mahōtsukai clans that is as deadly with magic as without. To the point where the few seishin-ko in our family tree are as feared as our magical members."

"Like Leo," said Mikey. "I bet he's the most feared out of all of us already."

"Among the ningen-ko, for sure," said Raph. "The mahōtsukai clans should be glad they haven't met him."

"And unless the headmaster agrees that Leo is a true Hamato by blood, no mahōtsukai clan ever will," said Donnie. The good mood popped like a much loved party balloon. Mikey crossed his arms and lifted his legs onto the chair so as to curl into a ball. He wished he had a shell to hide in like Leo.

"It's not fair," muttered Mikey. "Leo is family."

"Yes, but given what happened last time we revealed our powers without express permission to, we need to talk to Headmaster Oda about revealing the magical world to Leo."

"But Leo is the only one in the Hamato clan in New York who doesn't know where we actually are," whined Mikey.

"Do you want your robes to turn white again?" asked Raph. Mikey groaned, and he almost said yes. But his brother knew him too well. "Remember that this time Dad is around to see it."

Mikey's mouth snapped shut. The shame brought by dishonored heirs might end up making their Dad look older than he already did. They did not have to add to his collection of gray hairs. No more than they usually did.

"Fine," Mikey grumbled. He pushed his crossed arms towards the front of the laptop and shoved his head into them. "But I still don't like it."

"None of us do," said Donnie. "Now move over so that I can set up our final goodbyes to our brother for the next four months."

Letting out another loud grumble, Mikey moved over enough so that Donnie could reach the keyboard. Minutes later, the Skype page was set up and the images of their Dad and their fourth brother appeared on the screen. Dad was turned away from the screen and talking to Leo.

"—sure it's working?"

"Considering I can see Mikey sulking in the corner of the screen and Donnie and Raph trying not to strangle him, I am definitely sure," said Leo as he pointed his hand towards the screen. Mikey's head shot up and turned around to look at this two other older brothers. Neither of them appeared to be reaching for his neck.

"It was more of an inward impulse," Donnie explained with a grin at Mikey's expression. Mikey turned back and frowned at Leo.

"Not funny, Leo," said Mikey.

"Plenty funny," said Leo. He shrugged a shoulder. "Plus now I can really see you, so win/win."

"It's only funny because it's true," said Raph with his own grin.

"Leo, Raph's being mean to me again!" Mikey whined playfully. "You can't leave me here alone with these two! I won't make it!"

"Just for the record, if Mikey does not survive until the next time we see you, it was his own fault," said Donnie in an almost serious tone.

"You all survived most of your lives without me. You will be fine," said Leo. Mikey felt his brothers tense along with him.

"Really not funny, Leo," said Mikey. "Really really not funny."

"It is true though," said Leo, his smile lopsided and hurting. He didn't get why they were leaving him behind. Mikey would have reached for his wand if it had not been in his suitcase. His dad wouldn't get too many gray hairs from one dishonored heir, right? Mikey might get in trouble for illegally apparating under the age of fifteen, and breaking the stupid international statute of secrecy, and he might be spliced for trying to apparate over a thousand miles (Donnie would definitely know the exact number of miles), but it would be worth it to make that slump in Leo's shoulders go away.

A sudden flash of white blocked Mikey's view of his oldest brother.

"Hey!" Mikey cried. He batted at the piece of paper flapping in front of the laptop screen. "Craney! Craney! Back off!"

"Is that a paper crane?" Leo asked. "How are you getting it to fly around like that?"

"Leonardo, would you please fetch me some of that medical tea your brother left? I believe I find myself in need of some," said Dad. A hesitance silence occurred on the other side of the screen, during which Mikey caught the frantic crane and hid it under the table. He saw his brother's shell disappear to the left of the laptop screen. Another awkwardly quiet minute passed, and then Dad looked straight at Mikey. "Your brother is in the kitchen. Release the crane."

Immediately after Mikey let Craney go. The folded crane flapped at the screen as if trying to phase through it and reach Dad. Dad lifted up a hand and said in clear and precise Japanese (instead of the English that the conversation had been held in until now), "I, Hamato Yoshi, am prepared to listen to your message. Please read it out loud, and I will dictate my reply."

Craney cocked its tiny folded head, and then like the crane that had once appeared to Mikey (and his two older brothers) it unfolded itself into a large scroll written in beautiful kanji. A voice that sounded a lot like Toriyama-sensei dictated out of the scroll:

To the esteemed Hamato Yoshi  
Clan leader of the great and prestigious Hamato clan  
Lifetime member of the Order of the Seven Sages  
Recipient of the Heavenly Peach (Three times over)  
Holder of the white-blossomed Sakura wand  
Member of the Jade Emperor's court;

This is a notice of conditional entry for a Hamato Leonardo into the unequalled and internationally esteemed Mahoutokoro, your alma matter. As he is of your blood, the condition for his attendance is that he would come and take up residence with your clan for the duration of his studies. As he is under the age of eleven, he may take the provided storm petrels to the school until he is old enough to board.

Hamato Leonardo currently resides in America, but the American school of Ilvermony has rejected his application due to, as they have put it, extenuating circumstances. And so they have passed the application to us, as is always the case when a child from one country has claim to schooling in another. We found his application to be more than pleasing and are eager to accept him into our school with the simple condition that he reside in Japan and not America while he studies in our school.

We eagerly await your response.

Sincerely,

Assistant Headmaster Toriyama Yoshihiro  
Doctor of Charms, Enchantments, and Ofuda  
Order of the Clow Second Class  
Member of the Jade Emperor's Court

The voice faded and silenced, and the scroll levitated noiselessly in the air. Mikey scanned the kanji thoroughly to check that what was written matched what was said. It did. A grin split Mikey's face.

"I always knew Leo was a magic turtle."

A slap hit the back of Mikey's head. Mikey yelped, but the grin stuck fast on his face. They would not have to leave their brother behind. They could be four again. Like they were supposed to be. Only now with magic! Mikey could barely wait. Maybe he could apparate without his wand? Worth a try.

_Vocabulary used (because I (KuraiArcoiris) am now using made-up words):_

_Mahoutokoro – word not made up by me, it is supposedly the wizarding school in Japan._

_Mahōtsukai – word I also did not make up. This is an actual word. It is supposed to be Japanese for wizard, sorta. It isn't a direct translation, but I like it more than the direct translation and it matched the school better so…_

_Ningen-ko – Magical Japanese slang for muggle. Yes, I made this one up using the words for human and child respectively. Because mangling my own language is not good enough I suppose._

_Seishin-ko – Magical Japanese slang for squib. With my luck, this actually means something in Japan. Something terrible. And here I am thinking I made it up from the words spirit and child. Poor poor Japanese language._


	4. Brotherly Bonding

Note: And this is the chapter where it begins to dawn on me just how excessively wordy I am when writing. The plot of this chapter is, in theory, a very simple premise. It should not be this long!

This chapter will take place before the first two, only a few weeks after the end of the original story. Also, I decided to try something different, and write a chapter that's NOT from Leo's point of view! Yay non-first person!

* * *

**Brotherly Bonding**

* * *

Mikey silently grinned to himself as he pressed himself further into the corner of the ceiling, biding his time as he watched the doorway below him with laser like focus.

So... Which one of his brothers would be the first through that door frame?

He couldn't help a wide grin with a little wiggle of anticipation as he could hear familiar voices approaching, his sneakers pressing just a little more firmly against the niche he was using to brace himself up.

And then there was movement, and he pounced!

And YES! It was a turtle shell he landed on!

Mikey, of course, was quite happy to land on any of his brothers. Raph's startled curses and Donnie's huffs of indignant surprise were always a treat, and he would continue to enjoy provoking those responses whenever he could, but there was just something so _satisfying_ about landing on that solid green carapace.

Plus, y'know, if one thought about it, he had _years_ of pouncing on his new older brother to catch up on!

"Oh! Hello Mikey." Leo's blue eyes glanced up at him fondly. He didn't seem all that startled by an orange brother dropping down on him as he walked through the door. Probably those magic turtle ninja senses.

"Ha!" Raph snickered behind him, walking next to their purple genius brother. "And that's why Donnie and I were letting you walk in the front."

It had been over two weeks since the whole crazy Hostile-Take-Over-Attempt/Turtle-Brother-Kidnapping fiasco had gone down, and Mikey still sometimes couldn't believe that all that had really happened. How life could turn so awesome so quickly?! Dun and his goons were gone, Dad was awake after all those years, and, just to top off this metaphorical chocolate-caramel-and-jalapeño life event sundae, they had a new amazing big brother! And Leo could talk! How mondo incredible was that?! He was starting to take over their training (with Dad's blessing and guidance), and was a waaay better teacher then Buttface Bradford had ever been. He was also protective and strong and loved gummy worms and Space Heros and had the coolest shell to hitch a ride on and was always willing to let Mikey hug him. It was like they were now all living in the most incredible dream ever!

For his part, Leo, bless his precious big turtle heart, was so adorably awkward and shy, obviously wanting badly to be a good big brother but always acting a little unsure and worried about possibly overstepping unknown boundaries. He was like a rescued puppy who had always spent his whole life outside in the cold, looking longingly in, and now, for the first time in his life, not only was he invited inside, but, to his surprise, he was being told that, yes, of course you can crawl up onto the couch with us and get all the happy snuggletimes, you adorable muffin you!

It was strange to think about, though. It had been less then two months since they had found Leo, (and it had only a few weeks where they knew he could even talk!), but now, Mikey couldn't even begin to imagine a life without Leo anymore. It felt like they had always been together! They had always been four brothers, because that's the way it was supposed to be! The stars were finally put back in place, and fate had at last been set right! But while Mikey, Donnie, and even grumpy Waffie loved their new brother dearly, and it was clear that Leo whole heartedly loved them in return, their relationship was still very new. In truth, they were all still gradually getting to know one another. Baby steps, man!

So Mikey had plans for tonight! Brotherly Bonding Activities were to be had!

"Leo! Bro!" Mikey grabbed his new turtle brother's head and leaned down to touch his nose to Leo's snout, doing so mostly just because he enjoyed the feeling the warm scales. "Game night!"

"Um... what?" Leo's snout wrinkled in confusion as he blinked cross-eyed at his enthusiastic brother's face.

Mikey straightened up on Leo's shoulders. "Dad's napping, you're obviously feeling lots better, and we've got some brotherly bonding to catch up on! So let's play video games together tonight!"

"Hm. It _has_ been a while since we've played." Donnie mused over the suggestion as he tapped his chin. "We've all finished up with most of the training and homework already, and we could all definitely use a break." He nodded, giving Mikey an approving smile. "So yes, I'm up for a gaming session, if everybody else is."

"Sure. Sounds fun." Raph agreed amicably.

Leo reached up and rubbed his arm a little shyly, glancing around at them. "I've... um... never played a video game before."

Mikey knew that look. It was Leo's 'I'm actually quite willing to partake of this activity, especially if you, my beloved brothers, enjoy it and will be with me, but I'm warning you now that I unfortunately might be less then absolutely perfect in my attempts to join you.' It was a very specific precise and facial expression that Mikey had learned to read. Leo often chewed on his lip a little while making it, it was pretty endearing.

Raph merely snorted, and gestured for Leo to follow him. "Well, good. That just means I get to thoroughly kick your butt at something."

"A-_hem_." Donnie imperiously cleared his throat, bringing his hand up against the chest of his purple kimono like he was offended. "And just _who_, might I point out, is the current holder of the Most Excellent Diadem of Eternal Honors?"

"Uh... the what?" Leo blinked as he followed.

"It's a crown that we made for when we win at video games." Raph explained as he started to lead them towards the elevator. "The name was a collaboration." He paused. "Mostly Mikey, though."

"Ah." Leo nodded, understanding now.

"I used to be the champion at, like, _everything_. I'm an expert at video games!" Mikey complained. "But Donne's been winning it all the time lately, because he found this super nerdy game based on actual physics, and that's all he wants to play."

"Hey, MechaSeige is fun!" Donnie protested. "We can build our own battle bots in it! Raph likes it too! Right Raph?" He turned to the muscular teen in jeans and ripped red t shirt, obviously looking for validation.

Raph shrugged. "I just like it because I can use my mech to blow up trees and rocks and buildings and shit."

"See?" Donnie gestured towards Raph, as if that settled the point. "Best game!"

Mikey scoffed. "I didn't say it _wasn't_ a fun game. I'm just saying that Dee's too good at it!"

Leo shrugged agreeably. "Well, I'm willing to give your games a try, whatever ones you guys think is best."

"Oh, just you wait, Leo!" Donnie rubbed his hands together. "MechaSeige is awesome! It has a little bit of something for everybody's playstyle!"

"And don't you worry Leo!" Mikey chirped cheerfully, still happily draped over his big brother's shell as they moved. "Like I said, I'm, like, the ultimate gamer, so I'll teach you all the tricks I know! You'll be pro in no time!"

"Thank you, Mikey." Leo's blue eyes, brought out vividly by his blue mask, glanced up at Mikey fondly. "Hopefully I don't disappoint."

"Psh. Never." Mikey scoffed, waving that off, then paused, and leaned over to look at Leo's face seriously. "Though bro, that reminds me. I need to tell you the first rule of video games. It's by far the very most important rule that you should never, ever forget!"

"Oh? What's that?" Leo looked curious.

"Have fun!" Mikey emphasized his point with gestures, throwing up his hands in the air while keeping his balance expertly on the shell. "They're _games_, after all!"

"Ah." Leo nodded sagely, turning back to the hallway ahead. "I shall endeavor to keep that in mind, then."

* * *

"So welcome to our gaming room!" Donnie opened the door and bowed with a flourish.

Mikey peeked down at Leo's face, eager to see his expression. Yup, their gaming room set up was pretty sweet! Against one wall was mounted a giant tv in front of a huge super comfy couch, with a few beanbag chairs. Every console imaginable was lined up on a shelf below the TV. And in the middle of the room, several small computer stations were arranged in a circular position, a mass of wires somehow connecting them all in a fashion only Donnie understood.

Hm. In Mikey's expert Little Brother opinion, he would judge that Leo seemed to be a little intimidated by all the complicated set ups, but at the same time he seemed more then a little curious, layered with an almost imperceptible undercurrent of eagerness. So, despite being unsure, he still appeared willing. Very good start.

"So that's what this room is for." Leo mused, moving around to poke around and explore a little, looking only the slightest bit hesitant, like something might suddenly combust at his touch. "I had never actually gone in here. With all the electronics in here, I had surmised that it was some sort of surveillance room or something."

"I could see how that judgement could be made from the tiny view of the vents." Raph noted with some amusement.

Leo blushed a little, but continued exploring.

Donnie had moved over to the computers, and was already started to boot a few of them up. "Well, this is actually the communal game room. We let the other cadets use it as well, though one can sign it out, like we are now. I've gone ahead and signed out the room for the night, so we shouldn't be bothered." He finished turning on the forth computer, then moved over towards a cupboard on the wall. "But first we need this. My dear Leo, this is the grand prize we'll be battling for tonight!" Donnie said, dramatically pulling out a cardboard box that had been lovingly Bedazzled.

"Hang on!" Mikey held up a hand, halting him as he quickly thumbed through his tPhone with the other. "Let me get appropriate mood music first!"

Donnie waited patiently while Mikey found the perfect song and held up his phone. Very dramatic and ceremonial music began filling the room.

Donnie cleared his throat, then opened the box for all to see.

Leo raised an eyebrow, half amused, half incredulous. "Very... very nice." He finally said diplomatically, then cleared his throat. "What's with the dinosaur?"

Raph reached in and picked up the glittery dollar store costume tiara with a small t-rex plastic figurine tied to the top with a twist tie. "I made the mistake of complaining that it was too girly." he admitted, examining it with a critical eye. "So Mikey fixed it."

"Ah." Leo said no more. Mikey knew that he would see the logic behind that! Of course dinosaurs made everything more manly!

Raph shrugged and turned to Donnie. "Yer highness?" he said in a semi serious tone, relevantly placing the crown on Donnie's head.

Donnie regally tilted his head in acknowledgment. "Tonight, I will defend my honor and my title!" he declared dramatically. "May the battles be many and glorious!"

Leo snickered at that, obviously amused by the whole thing. Mikey grinned widely, glad to see his brother enjoying himself.

And thus, eager to get the night started, they showed Leo the tradition of carefully arranging drinks and snacks to be enjoyed, spending a few frustrating moments getting that one stubborn controller to connect, and finally, when everything was perfect and they were all set, they finally sat down at their stations to begin the game.

At first, they spent some time showing Leo the basics. Mikey had been a little worried that the controller wouldn't work with Leo's unique hand shape, but it turned out that he didn't need to fret. His bro was adaptable! Plus, you mostly only used the thumbs for the buttons and joystick, plus occasionally the shoulder bumpers, so having only three fingers turned out to be no big deal. Donnie then gave him a basic tutorial on mech building.

"So, as you can see, you can customize your mech in quite literally hundreds of different ways!" Donnie finished. "You just have to be careful, because it's quite easy to make something that doesn't function. If you want it to fly, you have to balance it right, and make sure it has enough lift to counter its weight. It can get pretty complicated, so I'd start off with something simple to start out with."

"I like to make mine small and quick and adorable!" Mikey informed him helpfully.

"Whereas Raph likes to put as much strength and weapons in his, so he always ends up with the biggest, clunkiest block on wheels that you can imagine." Donnie rolled his eyes.

"I made the strong mecha possible!" Raph said proudly. "Ain't nothing surviving more then one hit from my beast of a tank!"

"The problem with that, is first you have to hit something!" Donnie gestured in annoyance. "Your mech is basically a primitive train! It's so heavy and awkward to control, it's hardly maneuverable!"

Raph huffed defensively, "Hey! My mech can go plenty fast!"

"But you can't turn easily, so it's basically just in a straight line!" Donnie pointed out. "And it's so heavy, it takes you the length of a runway to build up to maximum speed! You'll never hit anybody like that"

"Hey, trees and buildings aren't going to dodge my attacks, and that's my main concern in this game." Raph gave a wolfish grin, rubbing his hands together as if that was all part of the plot.

"If you would just let me help you balance it..." Donnie muttered, obviously twitching to help, then sighed and shook his head. This was a much debated point of contention between them, and Donnie apparently decided to let it go tonight. He instead cleared his throat and redirected his attention back to Leo. "Anyways, since I often have so much of an advantage in this game, we often like to make up rules for some of the rounds to try and even the playing field. Mikey and Raph will often come up with thing such as I can't use flight during that particular battle, or I can only use melee attacks, or things like that. Some of them get pretty creative and fun, and I'm more then willing to play along! You're more then welcome to make up some of your own, Leo, as long as they're reasonable!"

Leo nodded, looking thoughtful as he continued building his mech.

"Put flame decals on it." Mikey offered sagely, looking over his shoulder. "Everything looks cooler and faster with flames on it."

"That is a scientific fact." Raph agreed.

"No, it is not." Donnie sighed, then pointed at Leo's screen. "But you can make the flame decals blue, if you'd like."

* * *

At last, they all had their mechs made, and a temporary pact of non-aggression was called so they could examine and admire one another's creations.

"So Leo, meet Tiny Tinkerblade!" Mikey said happily, and his tiny, rabbit like robot hopped around the feet of the much large mech. "This is mah boi!"

"He's... so small." Leo blinked, looking at the mech that was a fraction of the size of the others.

"It just means I'm that much harder to hit!" Mikey scoffed, showing off some of the backflips he was able to nimbly do in the game. "Agility is the name of the game!"

"Ah." Leo blinked, and then glanced up at the large, long rectangular box on tank treads that made up Raph's mecha, dwarfing by far the rest of their mechs. "And do you have a name for you mech as well, Raph?"

"Psh, no." Raph scoffed. "It's a metal box that bulldozes everything in it's path. It doesn't need a name."

"I call it 'Big Red'." Mikey leaned over and whispered conspiratorially.

"He does not answer to that name." Raph was quick to point out, playing along amiably in his own way. "No matter how many times Mikey tries to make it a thing."

And, of course, Donnie's mech was some complicated yet elegant perfect war machine, able to seamlessly move and adapt to almost any situation. It looked a little like a giant dragonfly, and had wings and guns and claws that helped it climb and grapple.

Mikey was most curious to meet the fourth mech, and looked over Leo's creation. Hm, not bad! Not as big as Donnie's, it was a very ninja-like mech with long blades and springs on its legs to keep it agile and mobile. Donnie had helped him, it being his first time playing a game ever, of course, but it was definitely a Leo-like machine.

Mikey voiced his most sincere approval, and watched, delighted, as Leo's cheeks colored a little as he gave a small but pleased smile.

* * *

So! It turned out that Leo caught on really quickly!

Mikey was rather impressed. Leo was already naturally nimble and quick in real life, and video games were often just a matter of quick reactions and pushing the right buttons at the right time. With Mikey's carefree playstyle, and Raph's indifference, most matches ended up being Leo and Donnie going head to head. Mikey had the sneaking suspicion that he might have yet another brother who might challenge him when it comes to being the game champion, if Leo so chose to pursue the Art.

But, despite Leo's best efforts, the status quo remained unchanged. As the night continued to unfold, Donnie's superior mech and knowledge of physics continued to serve him well, and he had won every round so far. Leo tried banding Raph and Mikey together to face him as a united unit, but no matter what they tried, no matter what challenges they threw in front of him, he always seemed to figure out a solution, and come out ahead. The Most Excellent Diadem of Eternal Honors remained firmly perched on their genius brother's brow.

But winning or losing didn't matter, as long as they were all having fun. Right? After all, that was the whole point of tonight, having fun together as brothers.

Mikey took a moment to stealthily study Leo's face.

His older turtle brother's brow was slightly furrowed in concentration, and he was studying the screen with those brilliant blue eyes, his attention fully on the task in front of him. Namely, as currently the sole surviving mech, trying to avoid Donnie's death machine.

Hm...

Well... it didn't look like Leo _wasn't_ having fun.

At any rate, Mikey could, at least, definitely say that their turtle brother didn't look bored. So... yay? Was this a success? Maybe?

Mikey gnawed on his lip a little. He knew (mostly Raph's fault here) that underneath that calm and collected exterior, Leo actually had a surprisingly deep competitive streak. Thus, one thing Mikey had been a little worried about going in tonight was that constantly losing would just leave Leo frustrated, and make it so he wasn't having fun. But video games held so much potential! Mikey really wanted to share one of his favorite things with Leo! But... if he wasn't having fun...

Mikey pondered the situation. It wasn't as if he could have pulled Donnie aside beforehand and asked him to throw a match or two, just to placate Leo's sense of pride. If Leo figured out that they tried something like that (and he most definitely would find out, being the magic turtle he was), then he would actually get annoyed and hurt. He would not appreciate a pity win. Not at all.

Erg. Maybe they should've started off with a co-op game instead. Though, knowing his bros, those could end up just as competitive and just as chaotic. Maybe even more so. Mikey knew how Raph got when there was only one health pack left and Mikey took it, even though Mikey was only missing a sliver of health and Raph's character was down to a few hit points. Raph never seemed to see the humor in such actions, even if Mikey found it hilarious.

On the monitor screen, Mikey noted an explosion and a small fireball billow out of the trees off in the distance, and realized that this round of battles was now definitely over. Leo set his controller down with an annoyed huff.

"Ha!" Donnie crowed in triumph, and shot Leo a playful, triumphant look as he sat back in his chair. "Good run, big brother, but, yet again, the laws of physics are mine to master!" He tapped his fingers together with the cackled of an evil genius.

"Nice try, bro." Raph reached over and patted Leo's shell. "You've already broken our record for lasting the longest against Dee, so you have that going for ya at least." He shrugged as he sat back up and picked up his controller again. "Don't feel too bad, this game is just his home turf. I've long since come to terms with that. Kinda like mingolf." He paused, then held up a finger warningly, turning to give Leo a serious look. "Speaking of which, here's a tip, Leo. Never play against Donnie in mingolf."

"Ooh, I second that motion." Mikey nodded sagely.

Leo's shell made his gaming chair creak a bit as he leaned back. He was tapping his chin absently with a knuckle for a minute as he stared at the screen, then he reached down and picked up his controller again. "I'm going to redesign my mech real quick, if that's alright."

"Of course." Donnie nodded, adjusting the crown on his head. "Did you want some help again?"

Leo shook his head. "No, that's alright. I think I have an idea on what I want."

Mikey glanced around. "Or... if you're getting tired of Donnie showing off his engineering smarts, we could try another game as well. There's this really cool racing game that's really fun to play!"

Leo paused and tilted his head, giving it thought, then shrugged and went back to manipulating the controller, continuing his build. "We can play that next. I would like to try just one more round of this game, if that's okay." He paused for a moment, then glanced at Donnie. "And, if I may, might I propose a challenge this time?"

"Of course Leo!" Donnie nodded eagerly, obviously happy to see Leo taking such an interest in his favorite game. "What did you have in mind?"

"My terms are this: You have to defeat us in a certain order." Leo's attention was fully on the screen as he quickly put together his new battle bot. "My battle bot first, then Raph's, and then finally Mikey's. If you go out of order, you lose the challenge."

"Oh, is that all?" Donnie scoffed confidently. "Of course, then. Challenge accepted!"

Hm. Mikey raised an eyebrow. Y'know, now that he thought about it, it would seem like Donnie might have a bit of that competitive streak in him as well. Why had he never noticed that before?

"Are any of you going to change your designs as well?" Leo wondered absently as he continued editing his player.

"Change the perfection that is Tiny Tinkerblade?!" Mikey gasped. "Blasphemy!"

"Nah, I'm quite happy with my death train." Raph agreed. "Those rocks, trees, and other environmental props aren't going to bulldoze themselves."

"Trying to destroy every tree on the map before I destroy you isn't the point of the game, Raph!" Donnie informed him with narrowed brown eyes.

"Hey, you have your goals, I have mine." Raph stuck out his tongue stubbornly.

Leo paused and tilted his head, obviously studying his battle bot for a moment, before nodding. "Alright, I think I'm ready."

Donnie gave an eager, predatory grin as he leaned forward. "Okay! One last round. Everybody in position! Let's Battle our Bots!"

Mikey picked up his controller, hunching over and determined to do his reputation as a video game wizard proud. Even if it was on Donnie's turf.

There was the spinning robot on the loading screen as the game loaded up the map, and then screen was filled with the pixel forest, the four crates containing the players were air dropped down, touching the ground and opened, revealing...

"What the...?!" Mikey stared, and then immediately straightened up in his chair, squealing in delight. "Leo! We're twins!"

An almost perfect replica of Tiny Tinkerblade came racing over to greet him, and the two tiny, adorable battle bots hopped and spun around one another playfully. Ohmahgosh! Leo could even mimic his movement style perfectly! This was so awesome!

"Ha!" Raph burst out in amused laughter, realizing immediately what Leo's game was. "So if you accidentally paste Mikey's bot instead of Leo's, you lose the challenge!"

Donnie frowned, wrinkling his nose as his bot moved over and studied the two identical tiny battle bots playfully bouncing at his feet. "Oh... very clever, Leo."

"Best... idea... ever!" Mikey exhaled. He had not been expecting this twist, but he immediately completely and whole heartedly approved of this plan!

"Welp. Good luck with that, Dee." Raph chuckled, and moved his cumbersome death train away towards the most heavily forested part of the map. "While you're doing that, I've got a map to decimate."

He looked amused and happy, and Mikey realized as well as he must've that he was probably going to have all the time in the world to beat his previous record of indiscriminate demolition.

"Come, Michelangelo." Leo said almost playfully, obviously enjoying his role in this plan. "Let us frolic together through these fields!"

"Right beside you, bro!" Mikey was more then happy to follow along, as the two bots bounced and spun and then sped off side by side, giving no indication which bot was controlled by which brother. "We shall tiptoe through the tulips together!" He paused, then clarified, "Uh, that was a song reference, by the way."

"Never heard of it." Leo admitted with a shrug, his sharp blue eyes still on the screen.

"Then I know what theme song we're going to be frolicking to on this adventure, bro!" Mikey beamed cheerfully. "T-Phone, play 'Tiptoe through the Tulips' by Tiny Tim!"

The screen of his phone on the table lit up as it processed the voice command, and then a second later, a ukelele started playing.

Leo listened for a moment, then raised an eyeridge, obviously not expecting the song to sound the way it did. "Hm. Well, it seems... oddly appropriate, I guess?"

"Come my brother!" Mikey was quite enthusiastic about how this unexpected round was shaping up. "Adventure awaits us in yonder field!"

Donnie's mech stomped right after them, unable to take the offensive in fear of striking the wrong target. "Trust me, Leo." Donnie vowed darkly. "This is just delaying the inevitable. You'll slip up eventually, and when you do, I'll be there! I will figure this out!"

* * *

And thus Mikey found himself having a grand old time frolicking with his brother bot in one of the most amusing battles he ever remembered having in this game. As trees and buildings and boulders were felled in the distance to Raph's maniacal laugher, Leo and Mikey made trails through digital flowers and chased pixel butterflies through meadows. All the while, a frustrated Donnie followed closely behind, muttering ever more frequent dire threats under his breath. His poor, heavily optimized war machine was reduced to the lamentable state of trailing behind two frolicking, adorable, tiny little cube critters, obviously hesitant to get too close for fear of stepping on one before he could figure out which one was Leo, and which one was Mikey.

As wildly amusing as this all was turning out, Mikey found himself growing rather curious. Leo wasn't being patently obvious in leading him across the game map, after all, either one or the other of the Tiny Tinkerblades taking the lead would clue Donnie in, but his clever turtle brother was definitely surreptitiously nudging Mikey in a certain direction. Mikey was quick to pick up on the subtle hints he was being given, and he was more then willing and delighted to follow his big brother's lead.

But that had him wondering. Was there more to this then met the eye? He had originally thought that this whole ploy was merely just a delay tactic, an amusing game to postpone the inevitable and troll Donnie a little in the last battle. After all, Donnie's mech was the superior one by far, thanks to his freakishly robust knowledge of physics and how they could be applied to creating the ultimate war machines. There was no way Mikey could see that they could actually beat his mecha, even working together, and Donnie was so careful that there's no way he would strike without being absolutely sure that Leo's bot was actually Leo's.

But now, Mikey wasn't so sure about that this was just Leo's attempt at going out with an amusing flourish.

Leo's expression and posture remained... tactical? Was 'tactical' a scientific term for a facial expression? Mikey was pretty sure it could be, seeing as he could almost visualize the wheels continuing to churn in Leo's brain. The jovial and almost playful movement of his tiny in-game clone of Tiny Tinkerblade all seemed to be more of a strategic ploy then merely an act of Leo playing and just being whimsical.

Hm. Mikey narrowed his eyes as he studied his brother's movements. He was getting the sneaking suspicion that Leo had a plan.

Just what was his brother up to?

Raph must've caught on to something being up as well, because Mikey suddenly realized that he hadn't heard the background noises of destruction and wanton deforestation recently. In fact, Raph had suddenly grown unusually quiet for some reason.

Mikey's attempts at trying to figure out what was going on was interrupted as Donnie's mech pounced in front of them, cutting off their path of frolicking and sending them scattering in opposite direction to avoid it.

Donnie had a look of determination stamped all over his face as his mech quickly started moving towards one of the Tiny Tinkerblades. . "Ha! I figured out your game! This one is definitely yours, Leo!"

"Are you suuuuure?" Mikey sang out gleefully, sharing a glance with Leo. As he spoke, the targeted tiny mech that Donnie was after bounced playfully in place a few times.

"If you guessed wrong, then you lose the challenge." Leo pointed out, and the opposite, non-targeted Tiny Tinkerblade bounced a few times as well as he spoke, as if taunting him. "So you'll need to be absolutely certain of your choice."

Donnie paused, uncertainty creeping back in to his features. He turned from one of the cloned mechs to the other, before he he finally exhaled in frustration, absently blowing a strand of hair out of his face.

Mikey cackled in delight as both he and Leo sped away to group up once more and dash across the meadow towards the forest.

"This is just delaying the inevitable!" Donnie vowed, stalking after them stubbornly.

They had just crossed past a hill into a clearing, when suddenly there was a clatter in the real world, coming from Leo's station. Mikey glanced up, surprised by the noise.

"Shoot!" Leo winced, hurriedly picking his controller back up. "I dropped it."

Mikey blinked. How on earth had Mr. Super Ninja managed to do that? Perhaps the controllers didn't fit his hands as well as Mikey thought?

"Haha!" Donnie crowed triumphantly. "Gotcha!"

Mikey realized with a start that his character had kept moving, but Leo's had stopped when he lost his controller, giving Donnie just the clue he was looking for. Oh, that was low, taking advantage of Leo's mistake like that!

"Ack!" He gasped in mock horror. "Run, Leo!"

"To the cave system!" Leo gamely ordered him, his thumb tapping madly on the controller as his mech dodge rolled past the missile launched at him. "We can still salvage this!"

"Not this time, Leo!" Donnie cackled evilly, his highly superior mech easily bearing down on Leo's tiny mech. "I've got you now!"

"He's too fast!" Mikey yelped, warning his turtle brother in vain. "We'll never make it!"

And then the smallest of grins crossed Leo's face.

"Choo mother fukkin Choo!" Raph cried out triumphantly, and Mikey could only watch, startled, as one minute, Donnie's mech had been prepared to pounce on Leo's mech, and then there was a streak of steam and red metal across the screen as Raph plowed head-on and full force into Donnie's mech, carrying it off in blur of fire and mech parts. In a blink of an eye, they were gone. All that was left on Mikey's screen was a quiet, empty meadow, Leo's calm and unworried Tiny Tinkerblade left seated and unscathed on the grass.

Donnie had been so focused on Leo, he had completely neglected to note Raph's whereabouts. This meadow next to the forest was flat enough for Raph to have plenty of room to build up to full speed, and, rather suspiciously, Leo had just so happened to have lured their purple brother right into his path.

"HA! YES!" Raph threw up his controller in ecstatic jubilation. "You just got PWN'd by this primitive train, Donnie! Haha!"

Mikey was now down for the count, almost sobbing with laughter with tears forming in his eyes as he collapsed across the table, gasping for air.

"Wha... But... He... You..." Donnie sputtered in disbelief, slumping back in his chair and looking a bit shell shocked.

And then it happened.

Leo threw back his head and actually began to laugh! Out loud!

Oh...

Em...

Gee!

Leo was laughing!

Mikey suddenly realized that he had never heard Leo really laugh before. True, his big brother often gave out an amused chuckle now and then, couple with just a little bit of sass and snark that would peek out if encouraged, but he had never outright _laughed_. Not like this, anyways, with one hand plastered over his face as if trying to keep tears from running down his face, and the other arm pressed across his middle as his whole body shook.

It was a genuine, warm laugh full of mirth, a clear, happy, rich sound , with just the occasional involuntary yet adorable little snort thrown in, because yes, Leo had just that little streak of adorkableness hidden deep down inside.

And, there and then, Mikey also suddenly realized that from now on, he would personally do everything in his power to hear that wonderful sound as often as he could. Leo Laughs were addicting! Heck, all of his brothers' laughs were! If there was some sort of soundtrack in heaven, Mikey was sure it would sound like his family when they were happy and having fun like this!

By now, even Donnie was giggling, then finally he couldn't resist, and broke out in full laughter as well. When he finally caught his breath, he pointed at Leo in mock accusation. "You set me up!"

Still laughing, Leo sat back in his chair and wiped away a tear. "Such accusations, Donnie! I just was playing innocently in the fields with Mikey!" He beamed at both Mikey and Raph with a crooked, proud smile. "It just so happened that Raph happened to notice the opening that left for him."

Raph was too busy howling with laughter into his keyboard to respond.

Donnie continued to snicker with amusement, covering his face and shaking his head. "Oh man, I fell for that hook, line, and sinker! I did _not_ see that coming!"

"Hm, if I recall the rules correctly, though," Leo eyed the crown on top of Donnie's head with a grin and a raised eyebrow. "I believe it is tradition for the vanquisher to don the coveted Most Excellent Diadem of Eternal Honors?"

"Oh, of course!" Donnie good-naturedly lifted the sparkling crown with the dinosaur up off his head. "You deserve it."

"Me?" Leo raised both eyebrows in mock surprised. "But it was Raph that won. He should wear the crown."

Raph finally slowed his heaves of laughter enough to push himself up, wiping the tears streaming from his eyes. "Nah, Leo. We both know this was your doing. You take the crown, you deserve it."

Leo shook his head. "No, I insist. You were the one who dealt the deciding blow, you should take the honors for it."

Mikey gave Leo a crafty look. "Besides, there is the fact that next time we play, Donnie's just going to focus all his energies on the crown bearer in hopes of winning it back."

Leo cleared his throat guiltily, which only caused Raph to break out in a fresh round of laughter.

"Fine then." he leaned back in his chair, obviously amused by the whole thing. "Give me the damned crown. It will be good to have it for once!"

Mikey was already on the move, taking the crown that Donnie handed him, and shuffling over to dramatically hold it over Raph's red spiked hair. "And thus we have a new King! Long may his reign be!"

Raph snorted as Mikey lowered it down onto his head, and reached up to adjust it a little. "Not bad. Might get used to this."

Leo only chuckled, and reached for his controller. "Now can we try that racing game that Mikey mentioned?" He asked, turning towards them with hopeful eyes.

"Dibs on Kirby!" Mikey inwardly cheered as he leaped into his seat and eagerly grabbed his controller.

He could barely contain the happiness he felt in that moment. The night was still young, and there was still so very much brotherly bonding to be had! Mikey couldn't wait.


	5. Sharing Burdens

**A/N**

_This is a drabble that has been sitting half finished on my computer for months. I was admittably distracted by my other stories, but I really got the itch to start delving back into this story once more, so I dusted it off and finished it. Plus, the first part was just too cute not to share. I do plan on posting more here, I'm not giving up on this AU just yet. I have so many ideas for this world, and it'd be a pity not to share them!_

* * *

"Okay, trying running the diagnostics again." Donnie stepped back from the Shellraiser, wiping his hands on an old rag. He seemed to be completely unaware that his elegant, handsome face had smudges of dark grease streaked across his right cheek and on the tip of his nose. April found it pretty adorable.

Currently, April was seated on a metal stool in the Hamato's personal garage, where the Hamato kept all their own personal vehicles, expertly balancing a laptop on her knees that was connected to the engine of the Shellraiser by several long, colorful cables.

"Right." She nodded as she typed a few commands in, before pressing the confirmation key. Watching the diagnostic program run, she absently tapped the side of the laptop patiently as she waited. Then several red numbers popped up on the screen, and she exhaled, glancing up at Donnie. "It's no good. The error codes are still popping up."

"Darnit." Donnie frowned, walking over to her and glancing at the screen and the errors it was showing, perplexed. "Why on earth is this not working?!"

April glanced at the Shellraiser, frowning as she thought it over, then looked up at Donnie. "You're certain that the connecting rods are still good?"

"Yes!" Donnie threw up his hands. "They're perfectly functional, I've tested them four times now!"

April exhaled, chewing at her lip, then shook her head and gave a wry chuckle. "You know, if you would settle for a NORMAL engine powered by fuel-based combustion like almost every other person, instead of a vehicle that runs on highly experimental alien technology, we wouldn't be having problems like this."

"Nonsense." Donnie scoffed playfully, waving the very thought of normality away with a swish of his hand. "Where's the fun in that?" His warm, reddish brown eyes lit up, and he snapped his fingers as he thought of something. "Ooh! Wait! I wonder if the problem is with the coaxial flow regulators!"

April considered this. "It would definitely explain the power fluctuations we've been seeing."

"If that's the case, then it would explain so much! " Excited that he just might have finally teased out the answer to this riddle, Donnie lunged towards raised hood of the Shellraiser, and quickly stood up on his tiptoes to lean down over the edge of the frame, digging deep to check the indicated pieces within the engine.

April watched Donnie working for a second, her brow rising thoughtfully. Her fingers drummed on the laptop lid for a second, and then, pursing her lips, her eyes quickly darted left, and then right. Hm. Nobody else was around. Coast was clear.

She casually leaned to the side as nonchalantly as she could, trying to get a better viewing angle.

Donnie was bent over the hood, completely absorbed in his work and unaware of just how stunning he was. Though he was the most lithe of all his brothers, Donnie was still definitely a Hamato. There were muscles under that nerdy exterior, and, as his girlfriend, April felt like she had the exclusive privilege to oogle when opportunities like this came up.

And yup. There was no doubt about it.

Donnie _definitely_ had a very cute butt.

"Hey! Hey guys! You in there?!"

An excited voice announced that a five foot two inch hurricane of enthusiastic energy was about to descend upon them, and April straightened up just in time as Irma burst through the door into the garage, clutching a padded carrying case to her chest tightly. She skidded to a halt when she saw them, and beamed excitedly. "Oh! There you are! Excellent!"

"Oh, hey Irma." April greeted her with a nod, quickly acting like she had just been typing something on the laptop and had obviously only been doing that innocent action for some time.

"So... Guess who's a genius?!" Thankfully, Irma apparently was too happily distracted to notice any oogling that might've been going on.

"Me." Donnie answered without even looking up from under the Shellraiser's hood at the same moment that April echoed "Donnie."

"Oh. Well, yeah. Duh." Irma rolled her eyes. "But right now I was talking about me!" She held up the small, hard shelled carrying case for them to see. "Guess who just had a major breakthrough and figured out how to resequence the Utrom lepton particle sensor?!"

The clanks from the Shellraiser's engine stopped as Donnie paused, then he looked up from under the hood, obviously now intrigued despite himself. "Wait, really?"

"Yes!" Irma enthused, hugging the case happily. "It took me forever, but I finally managed to crack the formula."

"Oh man, that's a game changer!" Now excited as well, Donnie quickly reached over to wipe his hands on the rag, turning from the Shellraiser and walking over to Irma. "Now we can make those upgrades to the Spectrum X!"

"I know!" Irma beamed, opening the case and showing the complicated device within for Donnie's inspection. "Your theory about the Utroms working with the Antarian civilization during the Triceraton wars gave me an idea to try instead try Antarian coding instead of universal Utrom, and what do you know, it worked!"

"Good job, Irma!" April cheered for her. "We'll definitely have to celebrate later!"

"Yeah! I can't wait to show everybody what I can do with this!" Irma nodded, as proud as if she were displaying a newborn child in her arms.

"Just as long as 'showing everybody what you can do with this' doesn't involve property damage this time." Donnie chuckled as he lowered his googles over his eyes and pressed a button on the side, turning on some fancy optical enhancements that helped him scan the small metal block of alien technology as he turned it over curiously in his hands.

Irma watched him, obviously very excited and proud, but then she hesitated, before deflating a bit as she rubbed her arm uncertainly and looked away. "By the way... Um, Donnie? I know it's probably none of my business, but... but I was going to ask. Is... Leo okay?"

Donnie paused mid-examination of the Utrom Particle Sensor, and then lowered it and raised his goggles up, now looking at her with concern wrinkling his brow. "Leo? As far as I know, he's fine. Why? What's wrong?"

Irma exhaled. "Well, I noticed the other morning that he was wearing that heavy cloak of his with the hood pulled all the way up, and he seemed kind of grumpy and short tempered, like something was really bothering him."

"Hm." Donnie frowned and absently touched his chin with a knuckle, thinking this over. Come to think of it, he hadn't talked to Leo in a while. Oof, had it really been almost three days working on this problem?! Donnie had been so absorbed in his project that he had lost track of time. Which... he had to admit, wasn't the first time that he had done so, now that he was free to completely throw himself into his inventions. But usually Leo came down to check on him at least once or twice and make sure he was getting enough sleep and enough to eat and drink. But... now that he was thinking back, he had seen unusually very little of his turtle brother during his latest science-ing session.

April set the laptop aside and gave Irma a look. "You weren't pushing him too hard with your 'Touch the Turtle' game, were you?"

"No!" Irma looked almost offended at the idea. "Of course not! There are rules for that game! I could see that he wasn't in the mood, and I gave him his space!" She shook her head. "Anyways, it was more then that. It even got to the point where Casey and Angel were really doing nothing more then their usual sibling fighting, and Leo nearly bit their heads off!" She paused. "Uh... not literally, by the way. What I mean is, he just snarled at them before storming away. That was yesterday morning, and I haven't seen him since."

"That's... that's troubling. " Donnie looked up, concerned, as he handed the sensor back to Irma, who put it back in the case. "Well, I have to admit, over the last few days, I've been a little absorbed in trying to figure out the power fluctuations in the Shellraiser..."

April raised an eyebrow. "Only just a little?"

Donnie cleared his throat, and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Well, you know how I get around certain projects..." He shook his head and rubbed his arm, glancing at the door. "At any rate, I'm going to go check up on Leo and make sure he's okay."

"Do you want me to come with?" April offered, sliding off her stool to stand up.

"Thanks, April, but my brothers and I should be able to handle this just fine." Donnie glanced at her, his reddish brown eyes warm and grateful. "I'll give you a call if we need anything. Meanwhile, do you think you can pick Irma's brain about the coaxial flow regulators theory while I'm out?"

"Definitely." April gave him a smile and a nod. She completely understood. If Leo wasn't feeling well, then the less humans that weren't his brothers around him, the better. And so, she moved over to Irma, who was more then happy to pounce on the offered laptop to look over the diagnostics.

Donnie gave her a grateful, crooked gaptoothed grin, and turned towards the elevator. As he walked away, though, his smile faded away as his brow furrowed into a concerned frown.

* * *

Hm. If Donnie recalled right, and his brain rarely did otherwise, then Leo was usually in the dojo at this time of day. They had quickly learned that their turtle brother took his training very, _very_ seriously. The main Hamato Clan dojo was up on in the compound above ground, which was where the bulk of the troops trained, but Leo very rarely visited there during the busy hours. Being a mutant turtle who thrived on secrecy, he always preferred the smaller dojos deeper down reserved for personal use.

The elevator doors slid open, and Donnie began walking down the hallway towards the cluster of training rooms located on this floor, including their personal family dojo. As he walked, he noted absently that the new panels, paint jobs, and other repairs in this part of the compound were still visible even after all this time, a result of the mouser attack on that day that their lives had changed completely. He perked up when he noticed could see that the lights were on in their personal family dojo, and the sounds of sparring coming from inside.

Well. That sounded promising.

But when he came up to the doorframe and looked in, he exhaled and frowned. Raph and Mikey were in there, in the middle of a rather intense sparring match in front of their father, who was still seated in his wheelchair but watching them with clear interest. They were both soaked in sweat, and obviously had been at it for some time, though neither of his skilled brothers showed any signs of slowing down. There was also no sign of the fourth Hamato brother anywhere.

Hamato Yoshi, well on the road to recovery and head of the Hamato Clan once more, seemed to be reveling in the presence of his sons. Ever alert and attentive, his blue eyes flicked up and noticed Donnie, and he smiled as he straightened up in his chair, calling out. "Yame!"

Well, apparently his entrance had been rather timely. Mikey had been on the verge of a new life spent folded into a pretzel by their hot tempered red brother, if Donnie's long experience in the dojo had taught him anything. Donnie briefly wondered just what buttons had been pushed and why his youngest brother delighted so in pushing them. But Raph and Mikey still obediently both stepped back at their father's command, Mikey sticking out his tongue impishly and Raph regarding him with eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Ah, Donatello! It's been a while since you've joined us in the dojo." his father greeted him with a genuine smile on his face. "Do you wish to join us, my son? You've been neglecting your training the last few days."

"Eheh, um... sorry Dad. I've been busy with my projects." Donnie rubbed his head sheepishly. "Perhaps another time, though. Right now I'm looking for Leo, actually." Donnie glanced around, as if hoping to spot his missing brother sitting in the shadows of a corner or something. "You guys haven't seen him recently, have you?"

"Leo?" Raph straightened up, forgetting Mikey's taunts and now looking a little concerned. "Wasn't he helping you the last couple of days?"

"No." Donnie frowned. "I haven't seen him. Irma just came to me and voiced concerns that he was acting a little strangely, like something was bothering him, so I was hoping to find him and make sure he was okay."

"Acting strangely?" Mikey grabbed a towel and immediately began rubbing down his sweaty blonde hair. "How so?"

"Well, she said that he seemed like something was bothering him. He's apparently been avoiding people, and was extremely irritable and short tempered in the short time she saw him." Donnie explained, and ran his hand over his hair, exhaling. "I'm not sure if it's a physical ailment, or if something happened that truly troubled him. At any rate, I plan to get to the bottom of it."

"Irma wasn't bugging him too much, was she?" Raph narrowed his eyes.

"No, she said that she noticed he was off his game, and backed off." Donnie shook his head. "I don't think that's it."

"Hm. I have to admit, Leonardo has missed training the last few sessions." Master Yoshi also started to look concerned. "I haven't seen him since two days ago and only briefly. He was wearing his cloak, and sounded and acted very tired, but when I inquired, he merely waved it off as working late, and said he would make up his training later." He exhaled worriedly. "I had taken him at his word and assumed that his duties have been keeping him up recently, but if Miss Langinstein has also noticed his behavior was off, then I wonder if he was just trying to keep me from worrying. I haven't heard much from him since, unfortunately."

"I texted him this morning." Mikey volunteered, sprinting over to pick up his phone from the sidelines and thumbing through it to show them. "I wanted to see if he wanted to join me for breakfast and Saturday morning cartoons, but he just said not now, he'd catch up later."

"Wait, Leo skipped a chance to watch Space Heroes?" Raph raised an eyebrow.

Well, that was troubling news. Leo very rarely missed a chance to watch cartoons with Mikey.

"When was the last time anybody's seen him?" Master Yoshi asked aloud what Donnie was currently thinking.

There was a pause as they all looked at one another.

Donnie sighed and fingered the bridge of his nose. "Let's find him and see.

* * *

"Leo? Yo! Leonardo!" Mikey called out, turning around as he walked across the grass of the Sanctuary. "Leo, are you in here?!"

"I hope he is. We're running out of places to look." Donnie walked over to his brother's hut and peeked in. Hm. There was Leo's empty hammock, draped lightly over a wooden floor covered in piles of pillows and blankets scattered around, creating a surprisingly comfortable looking nest. The music cube and Mikey's old well worn teddy bear they had given him were half hidden under pillows, as well as the occasional half buried bag of gummy worms and Space Heroes novel. But, unfortunately, there wasn't any mutated turtle brother curled up in the midst of it.

"I don't see him anywhere over here." Raph called over from where he was searching around the pond.

"Hm." Mikey reached down into his belt and pulled out his phone, and tapped at it a few times, before holding it up to his head.

Suddenly, Donnie was surprised to hear a familiar ringtone start buzzing from the hut, only sounding slightly muffled and like it was coming from under the floorboards.

There was a startled, sleepy snort, as if somebody had been rudely awakened, and then the ringtone was cut off abruptly. "Hello?" Leo's muffled voice sluggishly answered with a yawn. "Mikey?"

Donnie blinked, then, moving around the hut, found a hole in the dirt that lead underneath the small building. He got down on his hands and knees and peered into the crawlspace. "Wait... Leo?"

The cloaked figure curled up in the dirt underneath the hut floor froze.

"Leo, what are you doing under there?!" Donnie asked, now highly concerned. He couldn't really see Leo that well in the shadows of the crawlspace, but it was definitely his brother under there. He didn't even realize the crawlspace was roomy enough for somebody to fit into! And why was Leo wearing his cloak? He usually used that when he needed to try to keep his unusual anatomy hidden when they were out on a mission. "Are you okay?! What's wrong?!"

"Donnie, what...? Why are you here?" Leo sounded a little sluggish, but still startled.

"We've been looking for you, ya dork!" Raph came over as well, crouching down by Donnie to peer underneath as well. "What's up with you, Leo? You feelin' okay?"

"I'm fine." Leo's voice said a little tensely as the figure wiggled a little further back under the hut's floor. "I'm just taking a quick nap, that's all."

'But... why under there?" Donnie was baffled.

"It's... comfortable." Leo growled a little, stubbornly not moving. "I'm comfy, okay?"

"Leo, dude..." Mikey came over as well, peering over Donnie's shoulder. "It's okay. We're just worried about you. What's going on, bro?"

"Nothing!" Leo huffed. "Nothing's wrong! I'm just napping!"

"So you're telling me that you, Leonardo... Mister Work Ethic Himself, missed practice in the dojo _AND_ Space Heroes with Mikey... for a nap." Raph didn't sound in the least bit convinced.

"Yes." Leo's voice almost sounded sullen. "I'm totally fine."

"Then come out and prove it to us." Raph narrowed his eyes at the opening just under the hut. "Show us that you're fine."

"Don't need to come out." came the short reply. "I'm comfortable."

"Leo... Don't make me come in there after you." Raph warned him, putting a hand on the edge of the crawlspace and moving towards him slightly.

There was a loud and low breathy noise from underneath the hut, a raspy and low sound like air rushing from a punctured tire.

"Wait." Mikey blinked, astonished. "Bro... Did... did you just... _hiss_ at us?"

From under the hut, there was a momentary, embarrassed pause, and then the sound of Leo very sheepishly clearing his throat. "Uh... Sorry."

"Okay, that's it." Raph's eyes narrowed, and he rolled up his sleeves as he crawled forward. "One way or another, you're coming out, Leo." He disappeared into the hole underneath the hut.

"What?! No! I'm fine!" they could all hear Leo's panicked protests, and then a scuffle obviously broke out down there. "HEY! Nngh, Raph! Leggo! I'm _FINE_!"

There were times in Donnie's life where he found himself intensely curious about the range of reptilian noises that their turtle brother could make. From the little he had heard in the time he had known him, Leo seemed to be capable of a far different noises and sounds then a normal, non-mutated turtle usually made. For example, he knew that Leo could give a crocodilian-like growl, and he also occasionally gave an almost involuntarily hiss when angry, as he had just demonstrated. They had even once gotten a rumbling, if somewhat terrifying sounding, quasi-purr out of him while scrubbing his shell, which they all agreed, to Leo's great shame, was pretty adorable.

But while the noises never bothered any of them in the slightest, and in fact, they all rather liked them, Leo himself seemed somewhat embarrassed by these noises he made and would immediately cut them off as soon as he realized he was making them. Donnie didn't want to make his brother feel uncomfortable, so he never prodded any further, but deep down, he always wondered just what vocalizations Leo was capable of.

Well, today was apparently his lucky day, because many of his questions were answered there and then. Leo unleashed a full range of angry clicks, growls, and hisses. The crawlspace under the hut was filled with the sounds of primal noises of rage mixed in with very human-like spoken words of threats and muffled curses as the floorboards of the small hut were bumped and rattled.

Donnie absently wondered to himself if it was a result of his brother's much larger mutated size altering his vocal folds and the way they sounded to the human ear. Some of the noises seemed almost more like a prehistoric dinosaur than modern terrapin, and there was that really interesting fact that he seemed to still be able to speak while simultaneously doing all that crocodile-esque growls and... and was that a bellow just now? Interesting! Which meant that the two sounds were most likely produced by different sources, which would in turn would mean that Leo probably inherited both complex human and simple reptililian vocal cords. Donnie found this completely fascinating, and wondered briefly if he should be taking notes.

At that moment, admist all the terrifying sounds, a tangle of cloaked turtle and red banded human came rolling out from underneath the hut across the ground, struggling and fighting and biting and kicking. Raph was obviously trying to get Leo in a headlock, and Leo was doing everything in his power to shake him off so he could dart back under the hut.

The roll ended abruptly, though, with a surprised, horrified yelp from Raph, and the two brothers separated unexpectedly, sprawling in different directions. Raph rolled to a sitting position, and just sat there for a moment, pale as a ghost and looking like he wanted to throw up as he stared at the dinner-plate sized thin piece of broken scute he now held in his hands.

"L-Leo! Fuck!" he stammered out, eyes wide. "I-I didn't mean to... to...! Oh, _fuck_!"

Leo's cloak had flipped up over his head, leaving his head and arms in a tangle of brown cloth, and leaving exposed a shell that was looking unusually dull and jagged, and scales that looked deathly pale and loose. He swore and fought his way out of the cloak awkwardly, finally untangling himself and tossing the brown cloth aside. He twisted around to try and quickly comfort his brother, on the verge of panicking over Raph's panicking. "No! I'm fine, Raph! I swear! You didn't hurt me! I'm fine!"

"I'm holding a piece of your fuckin' shell, Leo! How is that 'fine'?!" Raph snapped at him, almost hyperventilating and apparently too terrified to set the thin layer of brown shell down on the ground, instead, holding it gingerly like it was the most precious, fragile thing in the world.

"Holy cats! That _is_ a piece of Leo! What do we do?! Is this like when you accidentally knock out a tooth?" Mikey hovered over Raph's shoulder, obviously on the verge of freaking out as well. "Should... should we put it in milk or something?"

Donnie frowned and walked over to Leo, who was now sitting up with his shoulder's hunched and looking extremely embarrassed. He noted the wispy white strips of skin floating attached to his arms, legs, and neck, and the way the outer layers of his shells scutes curled up.

"Leo. You're shedding." he observed with realization, kneeling down on the grass next to an obviously mortified Leo.

Leo huffed, his wispy arms tightly crossed.

"Shedding?" Mikey looked up at them. "Wait. So... Raph didn't accidentally break his shell?"

"No, Raph didn't break Leo's shell." Donnie said calmingly, moving behind Leo to examine the his shell. "It's perfectly natural for turtles to shed their scutes occasionally." He carefully felt one of the dead looking plates. "These are quite loose, one must've been knocked off in the scuffle."

"Ohthankgod." Raph breathed quietly in utter relief as he carefully set the broken scute down on the grass and backed away from it, his face still pale.

Donnie peered around at Leo's face. "Does it hurt at all? Are you in any pain?"

"No, it's just itchy. And tight. And really uncomfortable." Leo admitted sullenly, then groaned and reached up to cover his face. He looked like he just wanted to disappear and hide in his shell forever. "Dammit. I haven't shed like this since I was a kid."

"Well, shedding usually accompanies a growth spurt, and you've suddenly have been getting plenty of food and proper nutrition. It shouldn't be too surprising that a round of shedding was triggered." Donnie tried to soothe him as he continued the quick visual examination. He was happy to see there wasn't any signs of inflamation, bleeding or deep cracks. "Well, thankfully there doesn't seem to be any inflamation. I suppose the discomfort accounts for the displays of increased irritability and fatigue."

"I'm sitting right here, you know." Leo grumbled, arms crossed.

"Why didn't you tell us, Leo?" Mikey asked, sitting down next to him and looking him over with worried blue eyes. "Why were you trying to hide it?"

Leo winced, and hugged himself just a little tighter.

Mikey scooted closer to him and reached up to put a hand on his snout gently. "Leo?"

Even while looking tense and agitated, Leo still leaned slightly into his touch. Finally he shrugged and looked off to the side, muttering, "It's... gross. And... not something humans do."

"What? Shed?" Raph blinked.

Leo shrugged, not looking at them.

Raph scoffed. "Then you haven't seen Donnie after a day at the beach. He looks like a burnt lobster, and peels like he's growing a second skin."

"That was ONE time!" Donnie huffed indignantly. "And I've learned since then that I need a higher SPF then normal, that's all." He sighed, and turned back to Leo, sitting down next to him and taking his arm gently. "And Leo, we know that you're not human, but that doesn't matter in the least. You're still our big brother, and we love and worry about you."

"Yeah!" Mikey patted Leo's snout affectionately. "I promise you, Leo, that we're never, ever going to be ashamed or upset of anything about you. If you can put up with our human quirks, like Donnie's hair clogging up the shower drain, then we're more then happy to put up with any and all of your turtle quirks, like shedding."

"What?! Why am I the example again?" Donnie protested, offended.

"You're the only one with hair long enough to clog the drain!" Mikey shot back. "And it's gross!"

Raph kept staring at the piece of scute laying on the grass as this was going on, his hazel eyes never leaving the thin broken piece of shell that had come off of Leo's back. Finally, he gave a shudder and wrapped his arms tightly around himself, looking off to the side. "Just... just don't scare us like that again. Okay?" he muttered. "You really had us worried, Leo."

Leo glanced at him, and winced at the look on his face. "Sorry." he mumbled, rubbing his arm awkwardly. "I... I guess I'm still getting used to this whole 'brother' thing."

That rubbing on his arm gradually grew a little less awkward and a little more intense, and then Leo gave a rumbling, annoyed growl as it finally turned into outright scratching. Pale pieces of itchy, wispy skin flaked under his claws.

Donnie cleared his throat and reached out to gently stop him. "Well, brothers help one another, so Leo, in the future, trust us to help you."

Leo paused, then sighed as he allowed Donnie to push his hand down. His blue eyes almost looked like a pleading puppy as he looked up at them. "Okay."

"Right." Donnie nodded, smiling at him reassuringly. "Now, first off, let's tell Dad what's going on. He's been quite worried about you too! And then we'll try and make things a little more comfortable for you then hiding under the hut."

* * *

"'...But first things first.' the mysterious old rat said. "I don't have all day. What are your names?'" Master Yoshi's strong and calming voice read out from the book he was holding, sitting back in his chair in the Sanctuary. He was a surprisingly proficient narrator, giving the characters different voices and making the story seem alive. "'Um...' the rabbit warrior looked rather perplexed as he sheathed his blade. 'I am called Miyamoto Usagi, and my companion is named Gen.' 'Call me Kakera' the old rat said, beckoning them forward through the brush. 'Now come along. Supper's waiting– though it's probably cold by now.'"

Leo crunched on the cucumber slice contentedly as he listened to his human father read, eyes closed as he almost hummed with happiness. Right now, he was draped in a deep tub filled with some sort of mixture of cool, purified water, aloe, and a clean, sandy substance, creating a soft mud. Leo wasn't quite sure what it was, but it was something that Donnie had mixed together, and the cool mud felt divine against his itchy hot skin and shell.

"Leo!" Mikey scolded him. "That cucumber slice is supposed to rest on your eyes, it's not supposed to be for eating!"

"Sorry Mikey." Leo murmured, not sounding in the least bit sorry.

"How are we supposed to give you a proper spa day if you keep eating the spa day cucumbers!" Mikey grumbled without any real malice, as another cool, fresh slice of cucumber was set gently over Leo's closed eyes.

Leo's mouth twisted up in a slight smirk, but before he could slid that piece down to eat it as well, another slice was quickly fed to him instead.

"I'm onto your game, bro, and I have ways to counter it." Mikey sounded smug as Leo chewed on the supplied piece of cucumber instead of the one on his face.

"Sorry to interrupt," Donnie said as he walked up, pocketing his phone. "But I just wanted to let you know that I managed to reschedule your patrols and training classes for the next few days. Angel and Casey were more then happy to pick up any extra slack when they heard what was going on. Leo, you are officially on vacation for the next few days."

"In other words, prepare to be spoiled rotten, dude." Mikey snickered as he carefully sliced up another cucumber into thin pieces.

Leo thought about protesting that he didn't need any days off, that he could handle this just fine and still do his duties. He was Leonardo, after all, Chuunin and big brother, and there was just so much that needed to be done! He had responsibilities now! But soaking in the mud mixture just felt so good and relaxing, and the book that Master Yoshi was so interesting, and then Mikey fed him another cucumber slice and he discovered that he just didn't have the energy to fight this too hard after all.

"Here. Irma sent ya this." Raph grunted, and Leo reached up and lazily lifted up the cucumber off one eye to see him set down the fruit basket with a giant blue bow. Raph dusted off his hands. "She's going to want to come down and see you, so be prepared for that later."

"'K." Leo closed his eyes again and contentedly popped the cucumber slice in his mouth. Mikey gave a huff and another one quickly replaced it on his face.

"Ya comfy?" Raph's voice sounded amused.

"Yup." Leo murmured happily, eyes still closed, his relaxed body almost melting into the tub.

Raph chuckled, moving over to sit next to their father. "Well, take it easy, Leo. We've got you."

"For just this little bit, let us take care of you for once." Donnie agreed.

Master Yoshi cleared his throat. "Now... where was I? Oh yes."

And as he began to read again, once more describing the tales of the heroic Miyamoto Usagi, Leo settled back in the tub and let himself be pampered for once in his life.

He had almost forgotten how wonderful this sensation that seeping deep down into his very soul right now felt.

He had almost forgotten how wonderful it felt to realize that he was loved.


	6. AU Version: Humans to the Rescue! Pt 1

_**A/N:** So I mentioned the fact that I might try dabbling in a few 'What if' scenarios and fun little tweaks here and there to see how the story and characters would've been different._

_This little AU Version answers the question of 'What if the Hamatos had found Leo instead of the bounty hunters?'_

* * *

**AU Version: Humans to the Rescue! Part 1**

* * *

The rattle of chains and sharp thuds of powerful fists quickly pounding into a punching bag echoed through the otherwise darkened and empty training room. All of the lights were off except for one in the far corner, showing a single, solitary figure.

Sweat dripped down Raph's forehead, dampening his reddish dyed hair, but his movements never slowed. The punching bag shuddered and twisted violently as he easily worked through his routine, snapping his powerfully muscled arms which were bare with his cut off shirt, in rapid succession.

They were back at their base in New York City again. Funny how this place sometimes felt more like home to them then their birthplace and clan headquarters back in Japan.

Raph landed four quick jabs on the punching back, and then spun around to send it swinging with a kick.

But even so, the first few days after coming back to New York City always made him feel restless. Itchy. Brimming with unresolved anticipation.

He knew that all his family felt the same way, though they all dealt with it in their own ways. Donnie going through his lab and categorizing all the changes that happened while they were gone, Mikey running through the gymnastic equipment up in the gym. Personally, Raph found beating the stuffing out of something usually helped. The violent and repetitive actions were somewhat cathartic, and they helped when his tumult emotions threatened to overwhelm him.

As always, whenever they arrived back here, they were all wondering the same thing Would this time finally be the time? Would this be the visit when they finally found him?

Raph exhaled, and then reached out to catch the bag, steadying it and taking a couple of deep breaths, before raising his fists in front of him and starting again.

He still remembered when Donnie had decoded those documents from the EPF all those years ago. When they had first learned about Leonardo and what he had apparently become after he disappeared. It was still mindblowing to think that their lost pet turtle from so long ago had apparently somehow been... mutated? Was that the right word? Raph didn't completely understand all the mumbo jumbo in those research documents, but according to Donnie, apparently Leo had been turned half human. The bastards in the EPF had apparently at some point captured him, though he had eventually escaped and disappeared. There wasn't a lot of clues in the scant information they had as to what they had done to him in his time as their captive. But if they had touched a single scale on him...

Raph's workout grew more intense, his teeth gritted.

But yeah, the EPF's reports had traced the human DNA in him to their father. They had learned that Leo was somehow now biologically their brother and Master Yoshi's son. That's why the idiots had been stupid enough to try and kidnap their dad that one time. Raph gave a sneer as he landed a heavy blow. Which just proved that they were not only bastards, but idiots as well. They had sure been taught a lesson about messing with the Hamatos real fast.

He exhaled, slowing down slightly. The thing was, though, they all knew deep down that didn't matter who's DNA it was. Leo could have had the DNA of the pet store cashier, or some random homeless person, or anybody! It didn't matter none. He would still be a Hamato. All of the family was agreed on this. Raph wasn't exactly sure why they were so sure of that, or just what made them so adamant on that fact. All he knew was that somehow, deep down, they all felt... incomplete. They all felt the same empty hole deep in their souls, like there was an important piece missing in their lives.

Somehow, they just instinctively knew it.

They just knew that they had another brother out there somewhere.

Alone.

Possibly hungry and cold.

With nobody to watch his back.

Raph gave the bag an extra hard hit, his face twisting into a dark glower.

"Oh, hey! Raph! There you are!" a familiar voice called out, and Raph reached out to grab the abused punching bag, stopping its swings as he turned to see Casey and Angel walking into the training room.

"Figured we'd find you in here, boss." Angel moved over to flick on the rest of the lights, and suddenly the shadows were chased away, and the whole room was flooded with light, revealing the rows of empty exercise equipment. "Heard you were back from your Japan trip, and thought maybe we should stop in and prevent the quartermaster from griping our ears off later because he had to patch all the punching bags again."

Raph broke out into a crooked grin, genuinely glad to see the siblings. "Ha! Well, I keep telling Donnie we need to stop wasting money on the cheap ones. Not my fault that they break after a couple of real hits."

Casey grabbed one of the white towels embroidered with the Hamato sigil stacked neatly on a nearby shelf, and tossed it to Raph, who caught it easily and wiped down his sweaty face. "How 'bout you break some Purple Dragon skulls with us instead tonight? We managed to dig up some juicy dirt from some of our contacts, and they're apparently planning some big get together tonight."

"You got my attention." Raph gave a wolfish grin, draping the towel over his muscular shoulders. Spending the night out cracking heads with the disaster twins here was always a hoot. He walked over to a small fridge against one of the walls, opening it up and grabbing a bottle of water. "So what will we be breaking up tonight? We crashing a gang party, or stopping a robbery or something?"

"An ambush of some sort, it sound like."Angel shrugged, looking a bit bemused. "Apparently they've been having some trouble down in Port Morris area, somebody's been curbstomping them good whenever they try to work the area over. Word is that they're sick of it, and Hun has some sort of elaborate plan to catch whoever's doing it and put an end to it."

"Well, good for whoever that is. So there's vigilante in the area?" Raph was a little intrigued as he twisted the cap off the plastic bottle. "Somebody we know?"

"No, 'fraid not. We've put a few feelers out to see if we could make contact while you guys were over in Japan, but haven't been able to catch anything really worth anything." Angel admitted as she shook her head. "If there really is somebody out there harassing the street gangs, then we don't have any good information on who it is or what they want."

"Hm. Might still be worth checking out. It doesn't feel right to just let whoever it is get ambushed like that." Raph thought it over, and shrugged with a toothy grin. "And heck, if they've been causing Hun that much trouble, we might want to offer them a job and some official Hamato protection." Raph lifted the water bottle up for a deep swig.

"If anything, whoever it is really seems to know how to have fun messing with street punks." Casey snickered. "I swear to you, Raph, they're all totally freaking out over this! Get this. They're actually completely convinced that they're being attacked by some sort of creature that's half human, half turtle! Can you believe it?!"

There was a crunch as Raph accidentally crushed the plastic water bottle he was drinking out of, spilling water everywhere as he choked.

* * *

Several small insects and night moths swarmed around the yellow light set under the rusted metal plate of an old, sad streetlight, causing shadows to dance and pulse across the small paved lot nestled between three buildings, empty except for the garbage that littered the ground and a single white delivery truck parked there.

Hidden in the shadows and silently observing all of this, a dark figure sat crouched on the rooftops above, watching the abandoned lot through narrowed white eyes.

Leonardo sat as still and motionless as a statue, the cool city breeze not ruffling a single scale. Something was going on tonight. The very breeze swirling through the cool night air seemed to tingle with anticipation as the Purple Dragons were out thick tonight, tense with excited energy. It was obvious that they were planning something. Something big.

Leo knew that it wasn't really any of his business. He knew that, now of all times, he couldn't afford to attract unwanted attention. The best thing he could do was to leave the humans to clean up their own messes.

But then he came across two of the punks trying to break into a small mom and pop store, and figured eh, why not? It was easy enough to knock over a few garbage cans, make a lot of noise, and startle them enough so they scurry away in a panic.

But when he followed them to make sure they were actually done and not just going to try again, he overheard them getting a phone call, and they were alluding to that 'something', and whatever it was, it didn't sound good. And it really, REALLY wasn't any of Leo's business, and yet, for some reason, he still found himself here, sitting on a rooftop after following the punks to what he assumed was their hideout.

The figure remained absolutely motionless, but the white eyes narrowed ever so slightly in annoyance. Why? Why was he even doing this?

The white eyes immediately widened a bit as a child's frightened scream echoed through the area, and four humans burst out of the side door of a building, struggling with a burlap sack that sobbed and cried for help.

"Get her in the van!" One of the gang members hissed urgently. "Quickly, before somebody hears!"

Carrying the sobbing tied up burlap sack between them, they hurriedly shuffled over to the delivery truck. One of the heavily tattooed gangsters let go to quickly throw open the back doors, and they tossed the sack into the back of the truck with a thump. The sobs and pleas of a young girl continued to stream from the burlap sack.

Leo's upper lip lifted slightly in a silent, angry snarl, and one hand lifted up to touch the handle of one of his well worn katanas.

Yeah...

This wasn't going to happen.

The four human gang members were just stepping back, laughing with one another and talking about some sort of ransom money, when suddenly a silent whirlwind of solid green shell and spinning steel blades dropped in the middle of them, quickly sending them screaming and running away in all directions.

Leo stood there a moment, watching them retreat as fast as they could. Strange. They hadn't even tried to put up a fight this time. But he quickly shook his head, and turned to the back of the van. He could ponder on their cowardice later. He had already wasted too much time on them tonight. For now, he needed to quickly grab the girl, drop her off at a police station or something where she'd be safe, and then get home.

He sheathed his blade, and quickly hopped into the back of the truck, where the tied up burlap sack lay against the back wall, still crying and begging to be freed.

"Hey, it's okay." Leo tried to soothe the crying child obviously tied up inside, but then jumped and whirled about as the truck doors slammed behind him, sealing out the light from the streetlamp outside and leaving him in almost total darkness. He snarled and threw himself at the doors, slamming into them with all his strength, but it was too late. He was locked in.

Outside the truck, he could faintly hear muffled cheers and yells, and there were several bangs against the solid metal walls as the humans outside pounded on them mockingly.

He backed up a step, a low growl rumbling from his chest, and then with a snarl, he turned and grabbed the sobbing burlap sack, ripping the fabric angrily. A child sized maniquin and a cassette player fell out and clattered onto the hard floor, the fake, recorded crying still playing through the speakers.

A trap! And he had just waltzed right into it! How could he be so _STUPID_?!

Leo quickly drew one of his swords and with a single slash of the blade, he angrily silenced the cassette player forever, cutting off the recorded cries of distress abruptly. Slightly cathartic, yes, but it didn't help his situation any. And a quick, agitated pace around the small enclosed space told him what he already expected. There was no way out. Even the small, vented window near the back had been boarded over.

His muscles tensed up and his scales prickled as the truck suddenly rumbled to life, and, after a moment, lurched forward, beginning to drive away with him trapped in the cargo bay.

He steadied himself, keeping his footing against the suddenly unsteady flooring as the truck picked up speed, and then turned to face the locked doors of the cargo hold defiantly. He gripped his sword tightly, glaring at the two closed cargo doors with his mouth pressed tightly into furious line and white eyes narrowed dangerously.

* * *

"Yeah, I know! The scaly freak fell for it hook, line, and sinker!" the young Purple Dragon gang member with spiked blue hair said excitedly into the cell phone pressed against the side of his face, obviously celebrating jubilantly in the passenger seat of the truck. "I can't believe it worked so well! Meg really nailed that recording! I can believe she took those acting classes as a kid!" He paused for a moment, listening to the person on the other end, and quickly nodded. "Oh. Yeah! Of course! Tell Hun we'll be at the garage in fifteen so he can see himself! We'll see you guys there!"

He hung up the phone, and then threw up his hands and gave an excited hoot. "We got it!" He drummed the dashboard with his hands rapidly, jittery with excited energy. "Oh man, I can't believe we actually got it! We're going to be famous!"

Next to him, the driver of the delivery truck, a muscled man with a bald head, was just as gleeful. "We're going to be stinking rich too! Imagine what some lab or something would pay for an alien, or whatever that thing is! Word is that Hun already has a contract with some scientist guys for some insane cash!" An eager grin spread across his face, slightly distorting the purple dragon tattooed across his cheek and forehead, and he reached over to playfully punch his companion on the shoulder. "I _told_ you that Hun had our backs!"

"Ha! We're going to OWN this city!" the younger gang member celebrated, and then, laughing, he twisted around in his seat to bang at the back wall of the cab, yelling out. "Ya hear that back there, turtleman?! You're going to spend the rest of your freak life strapped some dissection table, while we'll be living up in the lap of luxury! That's what you get for messing with us Purple Dragons!"

As expected, there wasn't any reply or responding noise from the back, but that didn't seem to bother the gang member at all. He continued to grin wildly, turning back around to lean back in his seat, putting his hands behind his spiked hair. "Cars, beaches, and babes, here we come! It's going to be the good life from now on!"

The driver noticed something in the side mirror of the speeding truck, and the smile disappeared, his brow instead furrowing in confusion and concern. "Hey. I think there's a couple of motorcycles following us. Ya see them?"

The spikey haired Purple Dragon immediately sat back up and leaned forward to look, narrowing his eyes at mirror on his side. "Oh, yeah, I see 'em. The hell? Who's that?"

The driver frowned, alternating between the road in front of him and the mirror. "You think it's the cops?"

"Why would they be chasing us though?! We ain't done nothing that concerns them!" There was a sudden rush of wind as the passenger Purple Dragon rolled down the window and leaned out a bit, trying to get a better view. The sleek, almost science fiction-looking motorcycles behind him wove through the sparse traffic with a fluid easiness."I don't know, man. Those don't look like cop bikes to me." He said loudly over the rushing wind. "The fuck, man! Who are they?!"

"I don't know. Some kind of military?" the driver cursed under his breath, glancing in the mirror again, ignoring his excitable companion as he suddenly gave a strange squeak. "They might've gotten wind of the freak, and figured they could poach it from us without paying us. You'd better call the boss and let... him... know..." He glanced back over towards the passenger seat, meaning to address his partner, and trailed off in shock when he noticed that instead of his fellow Purple Dragon, there was now a young, blonde teenaged boy dressed in ninja garb and wearing an orange mask seated casually by the open window instead.

"Hey there." the young ninja beamed at him, his blue eyes behind the mask sparkling with a friendly, mischievous air. He casually reached over and pushed the button to start rolling the window back up. "Did you know that's it's super dangerous to ride in a vehicle without buckling up? Anything can happen, dude!"

"Uhhhhh..." the driver stared at him, dumbfounded and obviously not sure how to respond to this.

"I just thought I should mention that." the strange teenager added offhandedly, then he shot the driver a crooked, knowing grin, pointing out, "Because, y'know, you're not buckled up either."

And before the driver could respond, he heard a tapping on the window of the door beside him, and turned to see a purple banded teenager hanging off the truck just to the side of the door, a long, dark-brown ponytail held by a purple tie fluttering in the wind. The door was suddenly flung open with a rush of air, and the orange ninja calmly reached over to hold the steering wheel steady as the bald man was grabbed and tossed out into the waiting arms of a third ninja following closely on a motorcycle, this one with a shark-like grin and a red helmet.

Donnie easily swung into the seat of the truck, acting as if they weren't currently barreling down a highway at high speeds, and slammed the door shut behind him. Mikey released the wheel to him and he took it in one hand as he buckled in with the other.

"Welcome aboard, Captain Dee!" Mikey said cheerfully, taking his Bo staff for him and settling it across his lap.

"Thanks Mikey." Donnie said absently, reaching over to adjust the mirrors.

"Well, that was surprisingly easy." Mikey commented, looking around the cab and twiddling his thumbs.

"It was the Purple Dragons." Donnie scoffed, reaching up to smooth out his ruffled ponytail. "What did you expect?" He shifted his hand and touched a button on his headset. "Donatello here. We've secured the truck, and are currently heading off to a more secure location. Status report?"

"Good job, boss." Angel's voice came through the headset. "We got the two Purple Dragon punks secured and tied up, and some of the guys even managed to snag a few more of their friends trailing behind. We managed to get the location of the dropoff where Hun is supposed to be waiting out of them. Want us to pay him a visit?"

"Hm?" Donnie seemed a little distracted, his eyes behind his purple mask kept constantly glancing between the road in front of them and the back of the truck. He shook his head and concentrated on the job in front of him. "Oh. Right. Well, I doubt that Hun will stick around once he sees signs that the heist went awry, but I still want Sally to take two dozen of the troops and check it out. Contact the proper authorities, surrender the Purple Dragons we've already captured to the police, and cooperate with them as needed. Keep us updated if anything unexpected pops up. Casey and Angel, take the rest of the troops and back off to a safe distance, keep an eye out for others Purple Dragons that might follow. Raph, follow us, I'm going to find a safe place where we can stop."

"Got it." Raph's voice came in over the radio, his voice tighter then usual. In the mirror, Donnie could see all the motorcycles except Raph's split off, two of them ladened with tied up Purple Dragons. Raph's bike instead moved a little closer to the truck, driving beside it protectively.

"Yeah. Oh man, I would give anything to see Hun's face right now! I bet he's so mad!" Mikey joked as he turned to look at the wall behind them. He bit his lip, and glanced at Donnie with some concern. "So... um. Do... do you think that Leo's okay back there?"

"Hopefully he's fine." Donnie kept his reddish brown eyes on the road ahead of them, flipping the blinker on and slowing the truck down, before turning onto a side road. "We caught the Purple Dragons and rescued him before they could really do anything to him." He swallowed hard. "The sooner we can get him out, though, the better."

Mikey nodded, and then couldn't help the excited, wide grin that spread across his face. He turned to Donnie with a look of almost disbelief on his freckled face, like he couldn't believe this was actually happening. "Donnie! We... we really found him! We actually really found Leo!"

Donnie couldn't help but match his eager grin, and gave an excited squeal of his own, gripping the steering wheel just a little tighter. "I know, Mikey! I know!"

* * *

Donnie managed to find a secluded alleyway nearby which he felt would be sheltered from prying eyes and safe enough, and, after ordering the troops to stay back and guard the area around them, he pulled the truck to a stop alongside the brick wall of a building, next to several dented and empty garbage cans.

No sooner had he put it in park then Mikey was throwing off the seatbelt, scrambling for the door and gasping out, "_Leo_! Leo, Leo, Leo, Leo!"

Donnie hurriedly turned off the engine and, grabbing his Bo staff, pushed open his own door, and hopped out, his booted feet landing easily on the dirty pavement of the alleyway. Raph was already there, pulling off his helmet and jumping off his bike, his reddish spiked hair slightly damp with sweat.

"Is Leo really back there? Is he okay?" Raph strode up to them quickly, his eyes flashing towards the back of the truck.

"I don't know. We haven't heard any noise or anything from the cargo hold yet." Donnie hurried towards the back doors. "I'm... I'm sure that if he's really trapped back there, he's probably pretty frightened right now, and trying to remain as quiet as possible."

"Well, come on, then! Let's get him out and make sure he's okay!" Raph followed right on his heels, concern etched on his face.

"Oh my gosh, I can't believe we're finally going meet Leo!" Mikey grabbed Raph's arm tightly, watching Donnie start unlatching the lock of the back door of the truck. He looked like he was going to explode from sheer excitement.

Donnie knew exactly how he felt. He felt like his heart was about to hammer straight out of his chest.

He carefully lifted the heavy latch and prepared to open the doors. At long last, after years of looking and searching and worrying and praying, they finally found their lost missing piece! They had found their brother!

The latch gave a 'clunk', and Donnie reached up to pull open the metal doors, when all of a sudden they exploded outwards, sending him tumbling backwards. All he caught was a flash of green scales and silver steel as a solid and powerful body shoved him aside, flying past him to lunge at a startled Raph, who barely got one of his sai up in time to block a side swipe from a katana, which was followed up by a spinning kick that Raph barely dodged.

"What?! Oh fuck! Wait! Hold on!" Raph gasped he desperately tried to grab at the green blur to stop him. "You don't-"

And that was all the words he was able to get out before a strong, three fingered hand grabbed his wrist, a shelled back was twisted about to press right under his arm, and suddenly he was being flipped over, right into a startled Mikey, leaving them both landing hard in a heap on the ground.

And then the green blur was gone, bolting away towards a brick half wall. The shelled figure paused at the base of the wall, and Donnie got a glimpse of two pure white deadly eyes glancing back at them for just a second, before the shadowed figure sheathed his katana against his shell and quickly began scaling the brick wall. Donnie realized with a sudden lurch in his stomach that they were about to lose their turtle brother again before they even met him.

"No, wait! Please don't go!" Mikey gasped, struggling up from under a winded Raph. "_LEO_!"

"We're not going to hurt you, I promise!" Donnie scrambled up to his feet, desperately calling after the disappearing mutant turtle. "We're your family! We're the Hamatos!"

The second that he uttered that surname, the figure screeched to a halt, instantly freezing in place in a half crouch position on top of the wall.

Wait. That... that actually worked? Oh thank goodness. Donnie put a hand on the side of the truck for support as he tried to catch his breath and winced, feeling his bruised side. Oof. Well, so much for the myth that turtles were slow. He suddenly realized how lucky they were that Leo had been more interested in escaping then attacking. Despite the deadly katana blades strapped to that shell, the worst they got were a few scrapes and bruises. Leo obviously hadn't wanted to actually seriously hurt them in his escape.

The figure paused for a moment more, then slowly, hesitantly, turned around on the wall to face them. Only, instead of the cold and dangerous looking white eyes he had seen before, now two wide and uncertain sapphire blue eyes looked back at them. For a moment, the long lost brothers stared at one another, finally getting a full view of one another for the very first time.

Donnie could hardly believe his eyes. After so many years of having only the vague information listed in a few scientific documents stolen from the EPF to go off of, they were finally seeing Leonardo now in person! And he was so much more... more _real_ then Donnie had ever imagined! He wore a few pieces of makeshift padding and armor around his lean but muscled limbs, as well as a belt with a few small canvas bags tied to it. His shell was strong and sturdy, yet somehow surprisingly flexible, allowing him to crouch in a cat-like state that one wouldn't think a turtle would be capable of. He was definitely a turtle, yes, but he was also more remarkably human like in appearance and expression then Donnie had expected him to be. Seeing his face better in the streetlight now, Donnie realized that somehow, despite the green scales and the broad snout on his turtle-like face, Leo kind of resembled their father in a way. He even could be described as somewhat handsome. Especially those blue eyes.

"Okay, new rule." Raph grunted, pushing Mikey off of him and standing up. "From now on, we give Leo a heads up when we're rescuing him, so he doesn't mistake us for his kidnappers." He cracked his back with a wince before reaching down to give Mikey a hand up.

Mikey took the offered hand, scrambling back up to his own feet. "It does always seem to go so much better when everybody's in on the plan and on the same page." he agreed amiably, then turned to wave at Leo. "Sorry about that, bro! Don't worry, we totally made sure those Purple Dragons regretted _all_ their life choices tonight."

Still crouched on top of the half wall, Leo watched them with wide, blue eyes, his nostrils flaring and his body low and tensed up. From the way he was eyeing them, it looked like he really, really wanted to disappear into his shell. It was obvious from his body language that he must not have had very good luck when it came to interactions with humans in the past, and he wasn't quite convinced that this meeting would end up any different. But, for some reason, something about them was keeping him from just running away. For the moment anyways.

Donnie realized that they had probably only a short window of time to reassure him and explain themselves before he lost his nerve and bolted once more.

"I'm... ah, Donatello." Donnie offered, hoping to put him a little more at ease. "Hamato Donatello, eldest son of Hamato Yoshi and Chuunin of the Hamato Clan, if any of that matters to you. And these are my two brothers, Raphael and Michelangelo."

"But you can call us Donnie, Raph, and Mikey if you want." Mikey helpfully added cheerfully. "That's way easier. Is your name still Leonardo? Can we call you Leo?"

They looked at him eagerly, but Leo didn't answer him. Instead, he continued to study them uncertainly. His muscles remained completely stiff and rigid as he crouched, as if were prepared to spring away at the slightest hint of provocation. For a brief moment, Donnie wondered if their turtle-born, highly isolated brother could even understood anything they were saying.

But then he exhaled softly and lowered his head slightly, never taking his eyes off of them as he nodded ever so slightly. He licked his dry lips nervously as he eyed them. "What... What do you want?" he finally whispered in a surprisingly clear but low voice.

Oh! He could talk! Thank goodness! The purple chuunin rubbed the back of his pony-tail, explaining a little awkwardly, "Well, uh... We kind of found out that the Purple Dragons were planning an ambush to capture you, and so we came to, um... rescue you."

"Not that you seemed to need it much." Raph grumbled slightly without any real malice in his tone, brushing the dirt and grit off his outfit. It was obvious that he too was trying to ease Leo's tension in his own gruff way. "Seems to me like you can kick Purple Dragon ass just fine on your own."

"Leo. Bro. You're definitely going to have to teach us some of those moves, because MAN those were sweet!" Mikey beamed at the tense turtle balanced on the wall.

Their casual attitude and friendly manner seemed to perplex the mutant turtle. He blinked at them, and then nervously shifted his stance slightly on top of the wall. "No, I mean... What do you want with me?" he clarified. He swallowed hard, his blue eyes flicking up to them, studying them and trying to figure out their motives. "Why would you rescue me? What... what does the Hamato clan hope to gain from this? From me?"

"Dude, you're family!" Mikey said as if that were obvious. "We've been looking for you, because we want to make sure you're safe and okay and not hurt or in trouble!"

"You're a Hamato." Raph clarified. "Our dad adopted you all those years ago, didn't he? He named you, same as he named us. Doesn't matter if you're human, mutant, or alien. You're still one of us." His eyes narrowed slightly. "And believe me, we protect our own."

Poor Leo was looking at them like an oft- kicked dog being offered a kind hand, and he wasn't sure how to react to it. Donnie wondered just what Leo had been through in his life, and if the result was going be Raph making one of his infamous 'List of Names' when they learned more of Leo's past. Those 'Lists' had a habit of putting the Clan on bad terms with law enforcement and opening up legal headaches for their lawyers. He reached down to pick up his Bo off the ground, sheathing it on his back. Eh. That just meant Donnie needed to tag along with Raph as he began checking off some of those names. Just to make sure everything was done properly, of course.

"Leo." Donnie said gently. "Please believe me when I say that we don't want to pressure you into anything that you don't want to do, or feel uncomfortable with. We would love to get to know you, but if you need space, then we'll back off for as long as you need us to. But we need to know that you're okay. You're a Hamato too, so if there's anything that you need or want, the Clan's resources are at your disposal."

Leo's blue eyes flicked from side to side uncertainly, and his body flattened even further on the top of the wall as he worried his lower lip, studying them for a long moment. His face, at first so guarded, was now open and almost vulnerable in his uncertainty, and from it, Donnie could tell that an intense internal debate was going on inside his turtle brother's head. He seemed to be going back and forth between a somewhat fearful logical voice which was telling him to run, and a hopeful, lonely side which obviously very much wanted to believe them. And... underneath that all... Was that a slight undercurrent of desperation?

Donnie, Raph, and Mikey all waited with bated breath to see what their turtle brother would do, not wanting to push him away by being too clingy, but at the same time, _desperately_ wanting to give him all the hugs. _Oh please! Oh please oh please oh please, Leo! Please! Please be our brother!_

Finally, after what seemed like forever, Leo exhaled and, looking incredibly nervous and cowed, he slipped down from on top of the wall, stepping back onto the pavement of the alleyway where they were standing. He looked at them, rubbing an arm for a second, and then quietly gestured for them to follow him. He turned and moved down the dark alleyway, slipping between two buildings.

Huh. Well, that wasn't really what Donnie had been expecting. Confused, he, Raph, and Mikey glanced at one another, but then, as one, they quickly hurried to follow.

Leo led them down a few side streets, around a corner, and then their turtle brother really had them scratching their heads in confusion when he knelt down and peeled off a manhole cover in the street and climbed down into it, disappearing into the darkness below.

The three human brothers gathered around the hole, peering in hesitantly.

"Uh... that's the sewers, dude." Mikey called down into the pitch black below.

There was a click, and the darkness below was suddenly dispelled by the flashlight that Leonardo was holding down at the bottom of the ladder. He glanced up at them, his face serious and somber, and merely nodded his agreement, before turning and disappearing further down the tunnel.

Raph sighed and pulled a small flashlight out of one of the utility pouches on his belt, before kneeling down to swing down the hole and grab the ladder. "Come on." he grunted, climbing down. "Let's see what he wants."

Mikey waited until Raph had touched down and was standing on solid ground, before gleefully leaping down, bypassing the ladder altogether as a startled Raph swore and lunged to catch him. "Booyakasha!"

"This is so unsanitary." Donnie grumbled under his breath as he twisted about to climb down himself, reaching up to pull the man cover closed behind him.

Leo waited patiently for them, flashlight in hand, and as soon as they all made it down, he turned and led them further down through the tunnels. They wandered through a veritable labyrinth hidden under the streets of the city above, past flowing manmade rivers, climbing around pipes that had probably been laid decades in the past, and through surprisingly cavernous rooms filled with giant vats of somewhat questionable liquid. But Leo seemed to know where he was going and had obviously had some sort of specific destination in mind, so they followed him, curious to see just what it was he wanted to show them. Donnie supposed that, if one looked at it from a different angle, blindly following a mutant they didn't know hardly anything about down into the depths of the sewers was probably not a course of action that most sane people would recommend.

But they weren't concerned about Leo harming them in the slightest. They trusted him.

Eventually they found themselves walking through an area of the sewers that was less modern and maintained then the rest of the infrastructure they had seen so far, an obviously half forgotten and antiquated section of the sewer system that was seldomly used.

And, as Leo moved a cleverly placed piece of corrugated metal leaning against a wall to reveal a hole in the wall, ever so faintly, the three humans began to hear a rough, wet gasping noise from somewhere within, as if some creature was struggling to breath.

Leo exhaled, turned and gave them a pleading look, and waved them in.

The humans glanced at one another, and then moved past him to duck in through the makeshift entrance,

To their wonder and amazement, as they came out the other side, they found themselves inside stepping into a large, circular room that had been converted into a makeshift home. Everything in here was obviously salvaged, rebuilt, and repaired from some junk yard or another. There was a kitchen off in the far corner, with an old dorm fridge plugged into a scuffed up powerstrip and a camping stove, a bookshelf against a wall filled with tattered but well loved books, and a wooden table that obvious had a once broken leg repaired, covered in a blue piece of printed cloth and a vase with a few pretty fake flowers set into it.

Despite the patches upon patches on the sparse furniture, the mismatched old Christmas lights strung up for lighting, and all the duct tape everywhere holding almost everything together, somehow, it all still seemed... homey and comfortable.

And that's when they realized that the raspy breathing was coming from over in the area that was obviously some sort of living space. There, on an old army cot that had obviously been set up recently, an ancient looking mutant rat lay gasping for air under a layer of blankets.

"What in the..." Raph lowered his flashlight and gaped at the rat in shocked surprise.

"Wait? Another mutant?!" Mikey looked amazed as his baby blue eyes widened between Leo and the unconscious rat. "Is... is he your family too?! What's the matter with him?! Is he sick?!"

Donnie stared at the rat in disbelief. It couldn't be... Could it?! Their father's beloved pet rat... he had disappeared during the accident, just as Leo had, but... but Donnie never considered the fact that he too had also been... That he could be...

"_Splinter_?!" he finally wheezed out weakly in shock.

Both Mikey and Raph whipped their heads to look at him, and their eyes widened even further when they realized the implication of this.

Leo moved around them and stepped to the other side of the cot. "Yes." he spoke up finally, his voice quiet and low as he looked down on the sleeping elderly rat struggling to breath. He ran a three fingered hand over the fevered forehead. "But he's been so sick for over a week now, and he keeps getting worse. I... I've tried everything that I can, but no matter what I do, he hasn't been getting better." Swallowing hard, he carefully took one of the unconscious rat's paws, enveloping it gently in both of his three fingered hands, and looked up at them, blue eyes pleading. "Please... help him." he begged. "I swear to you, I'll do anything you want. But please, help Master Splinter."


	7. AU Version: Humans to the Rescue! Pt 2

**A/N **_When this AU version was still in the baby stages, I was hesitant to write it at first, because I thought that it was too long for just one chapter, but splitting it in half wouldn't work, because there was only on really good spot to split it, but that would leave the first part waaaay too long and with almost all the important stuff, and the second part with only just a scene or two and pathetically short. _

_*coughs* I was wrong. I was sooo wrong._

* * *

**AU Version: Humans to the Rescue! Pt 2**

* * *

Leonardo exhaled shakily and drummed his fingers against his knees nervously, currently seated in a not-meant-for-turtle-shell padded chair and resisting the very, very strong urge to pull into his shell.

Donatello had very quickly assessed that they needed to get Master Splinter out of the damp, stench-filled moldy sewers as soon as possible and get him somewhere where he could receive immediate medical care. Thus, the three Hamato brothers had helped Leo carry him out of their old lair and up to a waiting van, which brought them back to the Hamato compound. So now that's where they were. Yup. Deep down in the medical quarters of the Hamato Family's private quarters.

Well, at least it wasn't a public hospital or anything, right? With human doctors and scientists running around? No, so far Donatello seemed confident that he could help Master Splinter with his own knowledge and skills, so it was just Leo, Master Splinter, and the three Hamato humans in this room. So far... so far this had involved surprisingly little human interaction, for which Leo had been very grateful.

Leo breathed out through his nose slowly, his wide blue eyes riveted on the svelte ponytailed human working feverishly around the medical bed and the small, frail unconscious body of the only friend and father he had ever known. His breathing already sounded better, Leo noted. He didn't seem to be struggling and gasping for each breath anymore, which made Leo feel a little better about his decisions tonight. That oxygen machine Donnie had hooked him up to seemed to be helping.

_They were okay. This was okay. Everything was okay. It seemed like this teenaged human knew what he was doing. It didn't matter that they were now trapped inside a human building, with the floors above them filled with ninja henchmen. Leo had made the right choice. Master Splinter would have died otherwise._

He had to admit, this room didn't _look_ like one of the medical labs he was all too familiar with in the past. Of course, he didn't have a lot of experience with the insides of normal human homes or normal, non-evil-goverment-entity hospitals, so he wasn't really one to judge, but this... this seemed kinda nice, actually. Instead of sterile steel and harsh white tile, everything around them seemed calming and welcoming, with the walls painted a warm, olive green, and traditional Japanese scrolls with kanji and poems of healing hung tastefully around them. As if trying to add even more to the calming ambience, Mikey was currently in the middle of setting up a speaker, playing tranquil instrumental music set against nature noises. He had asked if he should set up some incense or something to help as well, but Donnie had vetoed that for the time being, on account of Master Splinter's current difficulty with breathing.

Leo appreciated the thought, but he didn't think that would have completely cover up the medical smell anyways.

As nice as everything around them looked... he still couldn't help feeling trapped. The human-built walls of the room seemed to be looming all around them, and Leo was doing his best to suppress a shudder. Somehow, the room felt too small and too open at the same time, like the walls feeling were closing in on him, and he had nowhere to hide.

He swallowed hard, and turned his eyes back to where Donatello was starting to set up an IV next to Master Splinter, gripping his knees tightly and desperately tried to keep his breathing steady.

_He was doing the right thing. Everything was going to be okay. They were just helping him. They weren't hurting him. This had been the right thing to do._

"I'm just setting up a drip for antibiotics, which should help with the pneumonia, and some fluids to help keep him hydrated." Donnie explained out loud as he carefully used a quiet razor to trim a patch of fur in the crook of Master Splinter's elbow. "It should help make him more comfortable and quicken his recovery."

The human teenager had been unusually open and honest so far, carefully explaining every single step as he worked and obviously trying to calm Leo's fears.

Leo swallowed hard, and lowered his head a little as he gave a slight nod. "'K."

He kept his eyes on the dark wood grained floor and tried to ignore the beeping machines around the bed. The hiss of the oxygen machine. The smell of plastic and disinfectant and other medical scents permeating the air around them.

... The fact that he had basically just handed himself and Master Splinter over to these humans on a silver platter, for them to do whatever they wished with them.

"Don't worry, Leo. This isn't going to hurt him or harm him in any way." Donnie cleaned off the area he had cleared on Master Splinter's arm with a cotton ball and some sort of smelly liquid. "Just a small pinch, and then it'll be like nothing happened. He'll get the fluids and antibiotics through it, which will make him feel so much better." He added as he turned to pick up the IV catheter, preparing to insert it into a vein.

Leo closed his eyes and breathed out of his nose.

_This is was what Master Splinter would have wanted. He would've wanted Leo to give him to the Hamatos. Master Splinter trusted them! Leo had done the right thing. It was okay. Everything was going to be okay._

"Hey. Um... Leo."

Leo opened his eyes again and glanced over to see Raphael move over and very carefully seat himself next to him in one of the padded waiting chairs.

The human exhaled and studied him with hazel eyes for a moment, before cautiously offering him a bottle of water. "Here. Uh... Thought you might like something to drink."

Leo blinked at the human, and then hesitantly reached out and took the cold plastic bottle from him, looking it over.

Raph sat back in his chair and cleared his throat, rubbing the back of his head. "Er, didn't know what you liked, but figured that water was a safe choice. There's other stuff too if you want it, coffee, tea, soda, juice, whatever."

Leo rolled the bottle around in his hands, and swallowed hard, before nodding and murmuring, "No. Water... water is fine."

He didn't really feel thirsty right now, though. He mainly felt like throwing up.

Raph exhaled, and leaned forward so that his elbows were resting on his knees. He twirled his thumbs together absently, watching Donnie leaning over the hospital bed and the prone, furry body lying on it for a bit, before turning his head to give Leo a small, understanding smile. "Don't worry, Leo. Donnie may seem like a dork, but he's also a certified super genius. He'll have Splinter cured and all better in no time, you'll see!"

Leo nodded stiffly, his hands still nervously playing with the plastic bottle between his hands with eyes not leaving the prone, elderly rat laying on the bed. Trying to ignore the wires taped down all over him and the clear plastic makeshift mask pressed over his muzzle... Trying to avoid the flashbacks to that other time he had been in human custody and he had been inudated with these sounds and scents...

_This wasn't anything like that time. It was going to be okay. These were the Hamatos, not the... the... No. They weren't going to hurt him. They weren't going to hurt Master Splinter. This was going to be okay._

He bit his lip and watched Donnie and Master Splinter for a moment, then leaned forward, letting his fingers worry against the plastic of the bottle in an attempt to remain calm. Despite his best efforts, his mind kept racing through every interaction he had ever had with humans in the past, all of them going disastrously wrong, combined with flashbacks to the medical labs back in the EPF compounds.

Suddenly, he stiffened slightly in alarm as his head whipped around to face the entryway to the room, muscles tensing. He could very faintly hear wheels rolling across the floor as some sort of trolley cart or bin was pushed down the hardwood floors towards them.

Was somebody coming?! Who?! Another human?! Why?!

Already on edge, Leo was left with his skin crawling with the strong need to escape this enclosed human medical room where he was trapped, while at the same time fighting with the overwhelming urge to protect Master Splinter.

The quiet rolling noise stopped just outside the door, and then a short female human with thick glasses and dressed in oversized overalls peered in. "Hello? Hamatos? You in here?" She noticed Leo, blinked at him, and then broke out in a wide, friendly grin, waving at him. "Oh! Hey there! You must be the newest brother!"

Leo stared at her, wide eyed and nostrils flaring nervously.

Donnie paused in his seat next to the unconscious mutant rat's bed, and slowly turned to narrow his mahogany eyes at her.

"Ah, ah, ah!" the strange human stepped into the doorframe and held up a finger to him to stop him. "Before you say anything, Donnie, yes, I'm perfectly aware that this whole floor is supposed to be restricted right now. But I'll have you know that I'm here at Mikey's request, and that's the only reason I'm down here."

Movement in his peripheral vision had Leo's head whipping around to watch the youngest Hamato as he bounded past him and across the floor towards the doorway to greet the newcomer.

"Irma!" he greeted her excitedly. "Did you get them all?!"

She pushed up her glasses with a grin, looking up at him. "Of course, Littlest Boss! I plundered every single couch and chair I could find! I went through the whole compound! It's quite the impressive haul, if I do say so myself." She gestured for him to follow as she stepped back out the door. "C'mon, I'll show you!"

"Sweet!" Mikey beamed at her as he followed, and as he got a look at whatever was parked out in the hallway, his face lit up with delight. "Oh man! Look at them all! That's perfect!"

He hurried out into the hallway, and a second later, he was pulling in a large trolley cart loaded to overflowing with couch and seat cushions of all sizes, colors, and shapes.

Leo blinked, and hesitantly glanced at Raphael's face to gauge his reaction, unsure if this was normal human behavior.

Well, Raph had his arms crossed and was looking a little annoyed at his youngest brother, but his facial expression didn't give the impression like this was anything usual or unexpected.

Mikey turned to wave at the human girl. "Thanks, Irma! We'll catch up with you guys later sometime!"

She gave a click with her tongue and shot him finger guns. "Not a problem!" She then turned towards the door, waving her hand in the air. "Well! My work here is done. I'm going to be prepping for that DnD game I'm DM'ing for tonight if you guys need me for anything else. Your new family members are super cool btw!"

Donnie facepalmed.

Leo leaned forward to watch her go, then looked around to see both Donnie and Raph shoot Mikey a dirty look.

Mikey was too busy dismantling the pile of couch cushions to care. "I know, I know. But trust me, bros! I gotta plan!"

Donnie sighed, and turned back to Master Splinter, adjusting the IV line and pulling up the blanket a bit more under his chin, smoothing it out. "My apologies, Leo. That was Irma Langstrom, one of our employees. She can be trusted, she's loyal to the Hamato Clan and a good friend, if not a little... eccentric."

Raph gave a glance over at Leo, who tried so hard not to show how freaked out he felt, but still couldn't help swallowing hard and clutching at the water bottle just a little more tightly, causing a slight crinkle of plastic. He turned to glare at his blonde brother, teeth gritted. "Mikey! We're _trying_ to make this as little stressful as possible! Not helping!"

"Totally helping!" Mikey cheerfully disagreed, hurrying over to shove a few chairs aside and clear a spot in the room. "Trust me, I know what I'm doing! Now come on and help me, Raph."

Leo glanced at the burly human, who sighed, but put his hands on his knees and pushed himself up out of his seat, going over to assist his youngest brother as he bundled armfuls of cushions back and forth.

Leo watched, absolute perplexed, as Mikey directed Raph in laying cushions in an apparently very carefully plotted out pile on the floor.

"If I may, Leo." Donnie said, apparently quite used to the strange things his human brothers did and once more completely focused on his patient. He was looking at a small tablet that he had connected to the wires he had attached to Master Splinter, and was swiping at the screen. "You wouldn't happen to know what Splinter's normal body temperature range happens to be, would you?"

"Oh." Leo swallowed hard and turned his attention from the strange behavior of the younger Hamatos, and back onto his adoptive father. "Uh, he was always a bit warmer then me, even when he was fine. I think it was close to what humans usually feel like? We... we mostly relied on touch, so I don't know exactly." He was quiet for second, then added, "It's... it's not normal right now. He's way too hot."

"Yes." Donnie frowned, looking at the readouts. "He's running a temperature of 38.8 degrees Celcius, which is about 102 Fahrenheit. It's high, but if his physiology runs similar to that of a human's, then it's not critical just yet. Like I said, the IV should help with that, and it might even be helping him fight off this infection." He set the tablet aside and pulled out a penlight. "Now, I'm just going to check his pupils and responses. I'm not hurting him or anything."

Leo licked his dry lips and nodded slightly. "'K."

Okay. On one hand, he was still feeling sick and worried and very much panicked over monumental and terrifying situation he put his beloved master and himself into, and he was still praying that it was the right choice.

But on the other hand... Just what the HECK were Raph and Mikey doing right now?!

Leo kept getting very distracted from his worrying because his attention kept getting pulled to the fact that the two younger humans seemed to be in the process of arguing over how to assemble what appeared to be an extremely spacious and elaborate pillow fort, of all things, in the corner of the room.

Leo was feeling quite terrified, yes, but now he was also feeling very, very confused.

Finally, two brothers seemed satisfied that the makeshift yurt of couch cushions and throw pillows was not only structurally sound, but adequately constructed.

"Leo!" Mikey turned and beamed at the baffled turtle, waving him over. "This is for you! Try it out!"

Leo's face went blank, and his eyes darted left and right, as if trying to find some other person named Leo in the room that they could be possibly talking to. Because, um, _what_? _Why?_

Realized that, yes, they had to be talking to him, and he had to at some point acknowledge that, he turned his wide blue eyes back to where Mikey was standing, looking somewhat like a deer caught in headlights. But Mikey was smiling at him with friendly, playful blue eyes, and his whole being radiated a warm, open aura. There was absolutely nothing threatening or malicious about him, only... only warmth and love and joy.

Finally, swallowing hard, he clutched at his arm and slid off the chair. Clutching tightly the water bottle that Raphael had given him earlier, feeling that it might be rude to leave it behind, he cautiously moved across the room towards Mikey. He made sure to skirt widely around the beeping machines and their thick electrical cords snaking across the floor for fear of jostling one and messing things up.

Raph stepped back a bit, giving him room, and Mikey gestured eagerly towards the wide entrance of the pillow fort. "Come on, bro! It's super comfy in there!"

Leo breathed out slowly from his nose, looking around unsurely, but finally nodded and stepped forward. Feeling a little bit silly, but not about to deny the Hamatos anything after all they were doing for him, he carefully ducked down and climbed into the pillow fort, doing his best not to jostle any cushions.

He found himself seated in a sea of pillows carefully arranged into a comfy nest. Huh. He was a little surprised at how spacious it actually was in there, he was able to sit up and move without any trouble, and he quickly noted that the entrance was perfectly situated so that he could easily see Master Splinter and everything that was going on around him.

At first, Leo felt a little foolish, nestled inside this little fort, but as he settled down and allowed himself to look around, Leo was a little surprised to feel his tense muscles slowly start to relax ever so slightly. It was strange, and Leo couldn't quite explain it, but, even though the walls were made of nothing more then couch cushion and blankets, there was just something about being in here, nestled safe and warm in a cushioned fort, that made that room out there just a little less intimidating and scary. He crouched down in the very nest of pillows, getting comfortable, and glanced shyly at Mikey, who was waiting outside the fort, nodding his thanks.

Mikey beamed, obviously happy that Leo was happy, and gave him a pair of thumbs up. "I figured a situation like this called for the mother of all pillow forts. Anything you need in there, bro, let us know!"

Leo clutched the water bottle closer and nodded slightly. "'K."

Raph came over, seating himself down on the floor right next to the pile of cushions, just to the side of the entrance. Which was a weird place to sit. Leo was a little confused by his actions. There were plenty of chairs lining the wall, which would probably be more comfortable. But instead, the strong human spent a moment getting comfortable, seating himself cross legged with his back against the pillow fort, and then, once situated, he twisted about to give Leo a smirk and a wink over his shoulder, before turning back outwards to face the room in front of them.

Watching him... It almost felt as if... he was sitting guard... Ready to protect Leo.

Leo swallowed hard, and sunk a little further into the cushions, wondering to himself why that little gesture meant so much to him.

But... for some reason... it helped. A lot.

Leo turned his eyes to the entrance, watching Master Splinter again, but suddenly feeling a little more warm and sheltered.

He didn't know why, but around these three humans, he felt... safe.

* * *

Outside of the massive fortress that was the Hamato Compound, the city lay buzzing lazily under a starless night, the normally dark nighttime clouds were lit up to a pale glow by the thousands of streetlights below, contrast softly against the velvet blueish black sky as they were blown along by a cool summer breeze.

Up on the rooftop of the Hamato building, lights blinked on and off, forming a square around a well lit landing platform emblazoned with the clan's emblem. The door set into the rooftop entrance swung open, and several burgundy clad ninjas rushed out, spreading out to make a neat, orderly semi circle, and, almost as one, knelt down respectfully, waiting at attention.

In the distance, the approaching thum of helicopter blades grew louder and louder, until the roar of the wind and engine drowned out the city noise around them. The wind whipped around wildly as the helicopter hovered over the rooftop landing pad, but though their clothing and tails of masks fluttered wildly around them, the gathered ninjas didn't move from their kneeling positions.

The helicopter hovered for a second, slowly lowering down, and then, carefully, gracefully, touched down on the rooftop, sending leaves and small debris flying. Before the blades even finished slowing, the door was flung open, and the steps hastily lowered.

The ninjas bowed even further as a tall, elegant figure stepped out, grasping the railing and quickly starting the descent with only a slight limp in his hurried step.

At the bottom of the steps, one ninja stepped forward to meet him, bowing low and holding out a finely carved walking stick inlaid with the Hamato sigil as well. "Master."

Hamato Yoshi, leader of the Hamato Clan, took the stick without stopping, already striding past him towards the door leading inside. "Are they here?" he asked, his voice strained. "Are my sons with them?"

The ninja hurried to catch up and properly escort and debrief the man. "They are down in the Hamato family quarters. By Master Donatello's orders, none are to enter the floor, it is strictly restricted. Thus, I'm afraid that I do not have any updates to share with you, except both of the mutants were alive when escorted in."

The man exhaled, his face tight as he nodded. "I will go there at once and assess the situation myself. Double the guard around the compound, and keep all watches on high alert. If the EPF catches wind of tonight, they will _not_ take what is ours!"

"Of course, Master." the ninja bowed, and turned to relay the orders to the rest of the troops.

The man stepped into the elevator alone, and his grip on his walking stick tightened ever so slightly as the doors shut behind him.

He couldn't even begin to explain his feelings when he had gotten that emergency phone call from his sons.

After all this time...

Not only was Leonardo was real and alive...

But... Oh gods... Splinter...

He gripped the walking staff tighter and prayed that they had made it in time.

The elevator slowed down to a stop, and after a second of it settling properly into position, there was a ding. Yoshi grabbed the doors as they began to slid open and squeezed through as they opened wide enough for him to fit through, exiting the elevator and briskly moving down the hallway, almost at a jog despite his limp and use of a cane.

He rounded the corner, and saw light coming from the doorway of family medical room. His heart pounded in his chest as he immediately turned straight for that doorway.

"Oh! Hey Dad! You made it!" Michelangelo perked up, greeting him as he stepped inside. Both he and Raphael were seated next to a massive pile of couch cushions arranged in the corner of the room.

Yoshi gave them a brief nod of greeting, but his eyes were already sweeping the room, landing on Donatello, his eldest son, who was currently sitting on a chair next to the hospital bed. in which was laying...

Hamato Yoshi stared at the prone, unconscious mutant rat, his greyish blue eyes wide in shock. Finally, he shakily sank into a chair and breathed out, "_Splinter_..."

Oh gods... It... it was really true then. His beloved Splinter, his dear friend and last gift from his beautiful Tang Shen... He was still alive! After all these years, Yoshi had found his beloved companion again, changed in ways that Yoshi hadn't ever imagined. His mind immediately raced back to that day, so many years ago, when that terrible, terrible accident had nearly cost him his life. He had thought he lost Splinter that day, along with the young turtle they had just adopted. It had taken many hard years of surgeries and therapy to physically recover from that accident, and even to this day he still bore a noticeable limp.

He had been lucky. It could have been so much worse.

Raphael stood up from the floor and moved over to him, resting a solid hand on his shoulder. "You... you okay, dad?"

Yoshi nodded, and then tore his eyes off of Splinter for a second to give his red haired son an emotional, thankful smile.

Then, with Raph's help, he stood back up, swallowed hard, and slowly, reverently approached the bed.

The sight of the elderly humanoid rat, so different and yet so familiar, looking so frail laying there with his muzzle covered with the clear cone-like breathing mask and wires attached to adhesive pads all over his chest, his breathing still hoarse. His heart broke at the sight. He glanced over with a silent inquiry to Donatello, who nodded, and thus granted permission, he took a deep breath, before reaching down and gently touching the warm, furry hand laying against the blanket.

Tears welled up in his eyes, and he enveloped the wrinkled, human like paw in his hand. "Oh... brother of my heart..." he breathed out, lifting up the hand to touch it to his face in a moment of silent reverence. He wiped the tear away, and turned to his eldest son once more, praying for a positive diagnosis ask he asked in a cracked, thick voice. "Will he live?"

Donnie nodded, a small, relieved smile showing just a hint of the gap tooth beneath. "I believe so. He should be just fine, with some antibiotics, fluids, and time."

Hamato Yoshi exhaled in relief, and nodded. "And... and Leonardo?" he inquired softly.

Donnie smiled widely at the mention of the turtle, obviously a little amused, and turned in his chair to gesture towards the pillow fort.

Hamato Yoshi turned, and immediately noticed that, peering out at him from inside the cave of cushions, were two huge, blue eyes. As his gaze fell on him, the young turtle froze, looking a lot like a child being suddenly shoved onto center stage in front of a large crowd and having absolutely no idea on how exactly he should react.

The head of the Hamato clan couldn't help a slight, amused chuckle, and turned to move over to the skittish young turtle, whose eyes somehow seemed to grow even wider at his approach.

He stopped just outside the pillowfort, and bent down slightly to peer inside, smilingly warmly. "Well, hello there."

The turtle shrank down a little and swallowed hard. Finally, his eyes cast down slightly, he stammered out somewhat politely, "H-hello, sir."

"It is alright, Leonardo." Hamato Yoshi said gently, reaching down a hand and offering it to the turtle. "You are safe and welcome here."

Leo blinked at him, then at the offered hand, and then back up at Yoshi's face. He studied him for a long moment, and then, hesitantly, his own three fingered hand lifted up slightly. He held it there, opened and closed his three fingers a couple of times as he obviously inwardly nervously mulled this over, and then, licking his lips, he reached forward and ever so carefully put his scaly green hand in Yoshi's firm, calloused own.

And even though the touch was hesitant and nervous, Yoshi marveled how strong and warm the unfortunately scarred hand now held in his own was. Yoshi smiled reassuringly him and gently encouraged him forward, guiding him out of the fort and upwards, so the still slightly gangly turtle was now standing in front of him.

Yoshi studied him for a moment, and was surprised to note that he looked a little older then he had assumed he would be. Yoshi had been expecting a young preteen, about the age of Michelangelo, but, even with facial features more turtle then human, Leo appeared to be at least Donatello's age, if not older. Was that because of his start as a turtle, which aged differently? He was a strong, healthy looking young man, with well toned muscles and the lean build of one who balanced strength with agility. His blue eyes, although currently wide with nervousness, were clear and bright, two deep pools of blue that foretold of intelligence and a quick, clever mind.

Looking into them, Yoshi suddenly got the sense that yes, this young turtle obviously bore many scars, both physically and internally, shown in the way his eyes darted occasionally towards the medical equipment and how he flinched ever so slightly under his touch. But, still, despite everything he had been through in his short, hard life, forged at the heart of this young turtle's very core, Hamato Yoshi could sense a surprisingly strong and deep vein of intense courage, loyalty, and compassion.

Yoshi found that he couldn't help but look over Leonardo with wonder and a sense of pride. It was clear that, despite everything, this amazing young turtle was a Hamato warrior through and through.

For his part, Leonardo did nothing but stare up at him in return with wide eyes, with his face left open in an expression of stunned awe, invoking memories, to Yoshi's deep amusement, of a very young Michelangelo's face when first meeting who he believed was Santa at the local mall. But then he suddenly seemed to realize just where he was and who he was just standing there staring dumbly at. He gave a sudden start and jumped to attention, immediately stiffening up and giving Yoshi a polite and formal bow, his voice hurriedly formal.

"Great Master Hamato Yoshi, master and leader of the mighty Hamato Clan, on behalf of myself and my master, I wish to express our utmost and sincere gratitude to the Hamato Clan for its generosity and benevolence for not only rescuing myself earlier from the trap I so foolishly allowed myself to fall into, but expending your precious time and resources in saving Master Splinter's life. If there is anything I can do to repay your kindness, please, do not hesitate to ask. We are both indebted to the Hamato Clan."

Yoshi reached out, and gently enveloped the turtle in his arms, pulling him into a hug and obviously startling him.

"Oh, Leonardo," he said fiercely. "You and Splinter _are_ the Hamato Clan. There is nothing to repay." His voice broke slightly with emotion, and he tightened the hug around the solid, warm shell. "Oh my son. We've... we've been looking for you for such a long time."

* * *

_Ack! The human was hugging him! The Great Hamato Yoshi, who Leo had heard so many stories about since his earlier memories and held an almost divine, superhuman status in his master's estimation, was __**hugging**__ him! He hadn't expected this! What do now, brain?! How respond?! What was the proper protocol for a hug from the head of one of the world's most powerful ninja clans?!_

Completely taken by surprise and not sure what else to do, Leo allowed himself to be hugged tightly, eyes wide and muscles stiff as he was enveloped in those large, warm sleeves and surprisingly strong arms.

But there was no pain in this touch. There was no hostility. It was like... like...

Huh.

Leo slowly began to realize that this... this human touch wasn't like the ones he had known in the past. It was... different. Human touch had always made his scales crawl, but... but this gentle yet firm embrace wasn't like anything like the other human hands that had touched him. Those human hands had always been cold and fearful and many times they had tried to hurt him.

Leo swallowed hard, closed his eyes, and then slowly his muscles relaxed. Hesitantly, he leaned further into the warm, thick fabric of the soft robe, noting the scent of faint sandalwood and cherry blossoms, and the sound of the steady beat of a strong heart. It was... kind of nice, actually.

Everything about this hug felt... safe. Accepting. Even... even loving.

"_Ghk_!"

And then they were interrupted as Mikey made a weird noise behind them. Leo pushed back from the hug slightly and glanced back to see Raph standing next to the youngest Hamato, holding him firmly by the collar of his orange and black gi.

"No, Mikey." the red haired brother glanced down at him with hazel eyes, eyebrow raised.

Mikey had both of his hands clasped together, and was watching Leo and Master Yoshi before him with sparkling blue eyes. "But... but... group hugs!"

"I don't think Leo's ready for that just quite yet." Raph said dryly, maneuvering Mikey to instead take a seat. "'Mikey Levels' of affection are something we might need to work slowly up to."

Master Yoshi gave a fond chuckle, the deep sound reverberating through his chest, and then he released Leo, reaching up to cradle his scaly cheek in one hand gently. Leo looked up into those kind blue almond eyes so much like his own, with creases around the corners that proved a lifetime of smiles.

"I am glad to meet you, Leonardo." Master Yoshi said, smiling down at him gently.

Not trusting his voice, Leo merely looked up at him with wide eyes and nodded.

"Dad? I hate to interrupt you, but, um, if you have a moment..." Donnie spoke up from behind them.

"Hm? Oh, of course, Donatello." Master Yoshi turned to glance at his purple clad son, who was still seated in a chair besides Master Splinter.

Donnie glanced between him and Leo, and rubbed the back of his ponytailed head ruefully. "I really don't mean to interrupt, but I was wondering if you could help with Splinter." He turned back to the unconscious rat, and sighed, before leaning forward and reaching out to carefully pull the blanket up a little further, worry on his slender face. "His vitals are stable right now, and his breathing is less labored, but he does have a fever right now, as you can probably tell, and while I've given him some pain medication, I'm afraid to give him too much without knowing more about his biological physiology and how he might react to it." He looked back up at his father. "I'm worried that the medication I've given him might not be enough."

Master Yoshi's eyes fell once more on Master Splinter's unconscious form, and he nodded, his face grave. "Of course! I will assist in any way I possibly can." He glanced back at Leo, gave him a brief, reassuring smile and nod, and then released him to move over and take the seat that Donnie offered him next to Splinter.

Leo was left standing there, rubbing his arm unsurely and watching him. He looked around unsurely. What... what was expected of him now? Was he supposed to sit next to Raph and Mikey? Go back into the pillow fort? He had to admit, feeling safely tucked away in the shadows of the protective walls of cushions again did sound rather appealing.

While he was trying to decide what to do, Master Yoshi settled himself in his chair, held out his hands in front of him, and slowly exhaled, closing his eyes.

And then he began chanting, twisting his hands and fingers into complex forms with each mantra he muttered.

"Rin... Pyo... Toh... Sha... Kai..."

Leo's head snapped around so fast that one would have thought he'd get whiplash. He stared at Master Yoshi with wide eyes, but unlike before, they weren't filled with nervousness and apprehension, but total and complete fascination.

Was... was this a ki technique?! It looked like one, though Master Splinter had never shown this one to Leo before! What was it? What did it do? Was it something Leo could learn?

"Jin... Retsu... Zai... Zen..." Master Yoshi continued to chant, his hand snapping from one complicated symbol to another with fluid grace and ease.

Almost unconsciously, Leo crept a little closer, stepping around some of the machines to get a better look. His eyes remained glued on Master Yoshi. He could sense the human's ki shifting about, shaped by the mantra and the intense concentration of the master ninja. Leo craned his head, trying to make out each little twist and turn of the human master's fingers, the way they interlaced with one another into complicated symbols. He hung onto every syllable uttered, trying to commit each one to memory.

"Rin...! Pyo...! Toh...! Sha...! Kai...!"

He watched, fascinated, as he could sense Master Yoshi's ki building up, and admired how powerful and controlled the master's flow of energy felt. Holy shell. He was just as strong as Master Splinter, if not stronger!

"Jin...! Retsu...! Zai...! **Zen**!"

And Leo watched, amazed, as with that final, forceful utterance, Master Yoshi spread his hands on Master Splinter's chest, and the energy that he had been building up rushing forth to envelope the unconscious rat in a soft, blue glow.

Master Yoshi exhaled, and sat back in his chair.

And, before him, laying in the bed, Master Splinter seemed to breath out slightly and relax into the pillow, the creases in his brow smoothing out a little.

Leo hesitated, and then crept closer to the bed and leaned forward slightly to study him a little closer. Even with all the tubes and wires, Master Splinter already looked so much better. His breathing wasn't nearly so painful to listen to, and... and instead of the fevered struggle of earlier, now he seemed relaxed and calm, almost like he was sleeping peacefully, his chest under the blanket rising and falling in a slow, steady rhythm.

"Pretty cool, huh?"

Startled, Leo gave a slight jump, and glanced over at Mikey, who was now standing next to him, along with Raph.

The blonde, blue eyed teen gave him a friendly smile. "It's called the 'Healing Hands'. It's, like, using your ki to mellow out negative effects and stuff. I don't know really the specifics of it yet, but Dad can use it to help Splinter heal faster, and make him feel better."

Leo blinked at him, and turned his gaze back towards Master Yoshi, watching fascinated.

Master Yoshi gave a chuckle. "It's a fairly advanced technique, and one that few can master. Still, I can show you if you'd like, Leonardo."

Eyes wide, Leo nodded.

"Huh. You interested in that kinda stuff, Leo?" Raph questioned, glancing at him with eyebrow raised and the corner of his mouth lifted in an amused twist. "Because if so, you're definitely in the right place for it."

Donnie nodded, going over some of the screens and looking much more satisfied with the readings now. "As a Hamato, you have access to one of the world's largest library of secret ninja techniques now, as well as some of most experienced and knowledgeable teachers. Dad alone is a master of many rare and powerful techniques, and as the heirs of the Hamato family, it is our heritage to learn. Yours as well, if you so desire."

Raph paused, then rubbed the back of his head, glancing to the side nonchalantly. "And, y'know, Leo, if you need somebody to spar with, for practice and stuff, I can always help with that." He shrugged. "Y'know. If you want."

And with that, suddenly, Leo began to start to see this all in a new light. Instead of all those memories that had been playing on repeat over and over in his mind's eye of horrific human medical labs and angry and fearful humans in alleyways with sharp knives and guns attacking him began to melt away, and he began to see instead possibilities of... of maybe training in actual dojos and... learning new katas...and... and if Raph's offer was really sincere... maybe even... even... sparring with the Hamato brothers?

Wow. That would be amazing!

He gnawed on his lower lip for a moment, considering this as he looked around the room at the Hamato family. For just a moment, it felt like he was hesitating on the brink of something, something big that would irrevocably change his life forever, though what that something was, he wasn't quite sure yet.

But... but maybe it wouldn't be such a bad thing... To go over that brink, that is. To close his eyes, take a deep breath, and just dive into... whatever this was.

He turned to Raph and gave the red headed human a shy smile.. "I... think I would like that."

Raph's face split in a wide grin despite himself, though he tried to remain casual. "Then it's a date."

Leo nodded, and then, allowing a small, impish grin to pull at the corner of his mouth, he added, "Besides, you really need to improve on your counter to the Ippon Seoi Nage. I can help you with that, if you want."

Raph blinked at him, apparently taken slightly by surprise. "Uh... what now?"

"The Ippon Seoi Nage." Leo explained, his eyes sparkling ever so slightly as he glanced at Raph. "'The One Armed Shoulder Throw.' It's the technique I used to toss you back at the Purple Dragon's truck..."

"I know what it is!" Raph huffed, obviously flustered."And for your information, I can counter it just fine! But it's just that... I wasn't... I-I just didn't want to, okay!"

"Yeah... I had caught you completely by surprise, didn't I?" Leo observed wryly. "That's something we'll have to work on as well."

Raph crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes at Leo. Then he couldn't help but break out into an amused smirk. "I can already tell that you're going to be an uptight asshole, aren't you?"

"Hm. Probably." Leo agreed amiably.

Raph laughed, and glanced at Leo, hazel eyes twinkling. "Well, good. I thought things were getting too boring around here anyways."

* * *

Leo was seated back inside the pillow fort once more, with Raphael again sitting guard just outside the entrance as before, but this time, Mikey had joined him inside. The blonde, happy, energetic human was laying on his stomach next to Leo, with a large collection of comic books splayed out across the nest of cushions in front of them.

"And so Captain Ryan realized that the Destructinators were planning on kidnapping the Prince of the noble Zogzils!" Mikey explained enthusiastically. "Of course, he immediately came up with a cunning and daring plan!"

"Wait, who's this again?" Leo asked, who was sitting cross legged, reached over to point at a young man in one of the panels.

"Oh, that's Crankshaw. One of the youngest crew members ever to serve on the bridge of the Dauntless." Mikey explained with a nod.

"Oh. Okay." Leo studied the comic book page. "So... why is Captain Ryan slapping him again?"

"Because he's panicking!" Mikey grabbed another comic book and flipped the pages. "See? He's doing it here too. That's how the captain always calms him down. It's one of his trademark moves, bro!"

"Ah." Leo picked up one of the comic books carefully, holding the paper pages gingerly between his fingers so he wouldn't crease or wrinkle them, and studied it, before glancing at Mikey, confused. "Is... is that a normal response for when a human panics? Are you... supposed to slap their faces?" Leo hadn't ever personally seen that particular human custom in action, and he had witnessed a _lot_ of panicking humans.

"Absolutely not!" Donnie called out from next to Master Yoshi, interrupting their quiet conversation together next to a desk about apparent clan business. "Mikey, comic books are _not_ a good guide for social etiquette!"

"They're an _artform_, Donnie!" Mikey retorted back. "I'm introducing Leo to _culture_!"

Leo bit back an amused chuckle, and he started to reach for another comic book, but suddenly froze in place as he heard a soft, familiar groan. His head shot up, eyes wide, and he immediately set aside the comic books and scrambled out of the entrance of the pillow fort, lunging to his feet and bolting quickly to the side of the hospital bed.

Under the blankets, Master Splinter's face scrunched up, and then, to Leo's great relief, two familiar, milky brown eyes slowly blinked open. At first they looked groggy and confused, but then seemed to notice the unfamiliar surroundings and medical equipment, and began to widen in fear, darting around.

"Master Splinter, it's okay!" Leo rushed to reassure him, grabbing his hand and holding it tightly. As soon as the old rat's eyes fell on him, he seemed to melt with relief, though they still held an understandable amount of confusion, trepidation, and anxiety.

"Here. Let me help you." Master Splinters eyes darted over to see Donnie standing at the other side of the bed, and his eyes widened and his wrinkled, furred hand squeezed Leo's a little tighter at the sight of the unfamiliar human reaching for him. But Donnie only began to start to remove the oxygen mask. "Your oxygen levels are no longer critical, so we can take this off for a bit. Make you more comfortable."

"Master Splinter..." Leo said gently, reaching up with his free hand to brush the old rat's snout. He smiled at him softly, and gently tilted his head towards the other end of the bed. "Look."

Confused, Master Splinter studied Leo's face, and then his brown eyes shifted down towards the direction that Leo had indicated. And then his eyes immediately widened, before shifting immediately to crinkle up with tears.

As Donnie slipped the breathing mask off, the old rat rasped out in a quiet, broken whisper, "M-master?"

Tears in his own eyes, Master Yoshi leaned forward to take Master Splinter's other hand, enveloping it warmly in both of his own. "Brother." he corrected him. "Oh, my dear, dear brother."

Master Splinter's breath hitched slightly, and he clutched tightly to the Hamato clan leader's hands. Slowly, he let his eyes wander over the three young human teenagers standing around the bed as well, looking back at him with excitement and affection. He glanced at Leo with a questioning gaze, the tears in his eyes indicating that he already realized who they must be, but needing confirmation.

Leo couldn't help but give a small, helpless shrug. "From what I've been told, those three are my new brothers, I guess."

"That we are!" Mikey greeted him happily. "Hey Uncle Splinter! I'm so glad you're awake and we get to meet you! I'm Mikey, and this is Raphie-"

"Raph." Raph interrupted him. "Not Raphie."

"And Donnie." Mikey continued without missing a beat, gesturing towards Donatello. "He and Dad are the ones who have been helping you feel better."

"The Hamatos finally found us, Master." Leo told the tearful rat softly. He looked around the bed at the faces looking on the two mutants in their presence not with fear or mistrust, but with so much warm love and complete acceptance. The corner of his mouth pulled up in a genuine, happy smile as he added. "And they have finally brought us both home at last."

* * *

_**A/N**_

_There might be a third part to this AU eventually, with a scene between Leo and Donnie. I've a few plot threads in it to smooth out, so it might be a bit later, but it has a few scenes that I'd really like to eventually write. Other then that, most likely I'm going to focus on my 'Light in the Darkness' fic, and maybe a few drabbles from the normal AU universe._


End file.
